Writealetter.org

Let's start writing letters again!

VERMEER’s Letters

By

  Dear Reader,   Have you ever read- The Girl with the Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier? Hollywood made it into a movie. I generally prefer the book. Don’t you? I have listened to and love the audiobook. All the Dutch words are correctly pronounced and with their appropriate accents. Imagine my surprise after recently revisiting […]

Addie and Rebecca

By

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 […]

Three Centuries of Valentines

By

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

By

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 […]

The 2nd Week in January

By

Universal Letter Writing Week celebrates the art of communicating through letter writing.  It occurs each year on the second week of January.  Although this notice is a few days late, there is still plenty of time to participate by writing someone a letter. Perhaps there’s a thank you note leftover from the holidays that you […]

“The Happiness Challenge”

By

  Happy New Year Dear Readers.  I must confess the challenge of this New Year’s moment has overwhelmed me. Much like the 2 faced Roman god Janus who starts off the year with Janu-ary, I don’t know if I’m coming or going. I am still writing holiday greetings, and the thought of jotting down my […]

1st Christmas Card (revisited)

By

Before there were printed greeting cards, people sent handwritten messages to each other. In 1843, Henry Cole, a British civil servant and entrepreneur, commissioned John C. Horsley to design the above Christmas card. Sir Henry Cole (as he later became known) was looking for a way ordinary people could use the services of the newly […]

“My Dear Friend”

By

After her grandmother died in 2000, Rachael Doyle, a high school junior from Long Island, decided that she wanted to do something to lessen the loneliness for some seniors in a local nursing home. Rachael along with 2 volunteers went into the senior facility and offered the women there makeovers. It began with doing the […]

Attention Letter Writers

By

U.S. Postal Rate Hike in January Stock up on ‘forever’ stamps before the price rises by John Waggoner, AARP, Updated December 8, 2022 GETTY IMAGES/AARP En español The U.S. Postal Service will raise the price of a first-class “forever” stamp from 60 cents to 63 cents on Jan. 22, a 5 percent increase. A first-class stamp covers the cost […]