I never know what I’m looking for, but I always find
it.
People often ask what sort of letters I want when considering
a donation to the project. It’s a question I try not to answer. Unlike most
archives I resist establishing a priority in part because leaving that decision
up to the donor feels like a more honest way of building the collection, but
also because I could never think of the characters and stories within the
letters I’m brought.
Bryan writes his pen pal from a correctional facility in
Michigan.
King George V sends best wishes and thanks to a returning
WWI soldier.
Norrie complains he “is still struggling with the language”
in a postcard dashed off before a meeting in Bologna with Umberto Eco.
