It is hard to believe a week ago, we spent April 16 at the Rubenstein Archival Library at Duke University, where I had reserved a collection of letters.
How precious it was to hold in my hands, for my eyes to read, hand-written letters from the 1830s and 1860s, specifically during the Civil War. My goal is to learn the usage of speech and marvel at the penned calligraphy on aging yellowed paper placed chronically in folders.
Letters usually begin by expressing the author's satisfaction and honor at writing to a friend or family member. Then, they continued with their health or that of others, wishing the recipient good health. Then they shared what sickness prevailed in the land and who may have died or was born since they last wrote. Battles between God and Satan in this earthly realm led to a passionate need for revival and penance. Especially in death, it was written of the great comfort of the living, knowing those dying accepted their permanent home in Heaven.
In their farming community, they informed of crop cultivation, the progress of wheat and oats, and when the peaches and apples bloomed. The cost of food and necessities was not affordable or non-existent, and their community faced the fear of disease and starvation during the war.
Towards the end of the letters, the authors wrote apologies for rushed or messy letters and the sorry condition of the paper, which made their penmanship unfit to read. Then they ended with the salutation of I remain your loving friend, cousin, husband, wife, niece, nephew, sister, brother, niece, or nephew until death.
The penmanship of these letters is a work of art, often resembling calligraphy. The penpoint was dipped in ink frequently to continue a sentence, and I rarely saw ink blots. Some letters are a continuous flow of words, devoid of punctuation, with capital letters randomly placed for common words.
The terms used sounded strange. For example, women wrote the word drepes, which is often associated with drapes for window coverings, but in the context of their letters, it meant buying homespun or calico to sew a dress. “I am sewing new drepes for the revival meeting next Sunday.”
The use of the word Mifs baffled me, and I had to research it. It was a common greeting title for whom the letter was written. It was more common to use Mifs as an unmarried woman instead of Miss.
Note: Spell check does not like these old words!
Handwritten letters have become historical documents. They are also a lost art, especially with the use of computers (as I sit and type this) and, sadly, texting, the prevalent form of communication today.
Do you enjoy writing and receiving handwritten letters?
