Addie and Rebecca were pen pals during the mid-19th century. They were free black women who navigated the turbulent times during America’s Reconstruction Era. Addie Brown, born in 1841, was orphaned early in life and as a result she joined the working class as a domestic servant. Five years older, Rebecca Primus was born in […]
Archives for February 2023
Three Centuries of Valentines
Three Centuries of Valentines Offer 12,000 Ways to Say ‘I Love You’ -The New York Times By Eve M. Kahn Feb. 13, 2018 Paper Valentines spanning three centuries of optimism about romance have been delivered to the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif. The collection of about 12,000 cards was assembled […]
Song of Songs
Dear Reader- Margaret Shepherd’s calligraphy show, “Song of Songs” just opened at Yale’s Divinity School last week. The back story of this event is a curious one, so I thought I’d share it with you…And, in this season of Valentines, it’s easy to talk about some love poetry! In the Spring of 2010, Adam Schwartz […]