Show and Tell Friday - End of An Era

Ah yes, some exciting photos of a computer paper box and file folders. I'm sure you've never seen the likes of that before have you?

Well it's what's in the boxes and folders and binders that are the real treasure. Problem is - I can't give you a closer peek. Oh, well I could - but then you'd be seeing some very personal information...not just about me - which I could choose to show - but information about the daily lives of those in our circle - that we love.

These are hundreds...maybe a thousand, I've never tried to count them - of letters written to me and to my dh ever since we were teenagers.

When I married my dh 12.5 yrs ago, I found out that he did the same thing that I did. He saved every letter (for the most part) he ever received... So these are stacks and stacks of letters written by our parents, our friends, our relatives and some penpals. These letters span a period of about 27 years.

Some of the letters are from people we loved, that have now died. Some are from people we are no longer in contact with. But nonetheless, all are or were a part of our lives at some point.

They are special for that reason, but also because those letters represent the end of an era, so to speak. The era of the written letter. Handwritten for the most part. With the arrival of computers and email - letters became quick notes, not lengthy epistles. Sure with email you get a quick as it's happening or happened account of something in someones' life. But it's not quite the same. You miss out on the (sometimes) beautiful paper it was written on, the (sometimes) beautiful handwriting...or just the familiar... Sometimes a newspaper article, or a comic or some little do-dad was included with the letters.

I believe in this stack is every single letter my dh wrote to me, and I wrote to him - beginning when he was 10 and I was 14. We lived 1000 miles apart and were "just friends" for most of those letter writing years. What a great written history we will have preserved for our children.

Reading the letters I wrote and sent to my dh is like reading a diary. Events that I have long forgotten are there in front of me.

This huge lot doesn't even show all the letters that were saved in scrapbooks and the letters that are still in our file cabinet (letters from the past year or so).

Do I save all the emails I receive? No. Sure they are saved in my "mailbox" - but they have not (for the most part) been printed off and saved "for ever".

What will I do with this huge collection of history? How will I preserve it? I don't know. But I want to figure something out. Some of the letters were laid flat, hole-punched and stored in binders.

I found this website just now, that talks about how to preserve old letters - they are specifically talking about war letters, but the same procedures works for any kind of letter. I haven't had a chance to go through all the information - but I will.

For more Show and Tell Friday items - check out There is No Place Like Home.