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September 13, 2006
Scattered
During our brief walk along the fringes of the Gowanus Canal and then Boerum Hill last weekend, I looked down and found a folded, yellowed piece of paper. I picked it up despite my more germ-aware husband's advice (Alexis: we should really buy you a little kit of gloves and hand sanitizer to carry around in your photo bag...) because it looked old. Plus, the tiny bit of handwriting that I could see was pretty.
The letter was from a doctor in South Carolina to one of his former patients. As I read the note aloud to Alexis, we rounded the corner onto Third Avenue and another letter sat at my feet. Typewritten, it was addressed to the same woman as the other artifact and dated 1936. The other was from 1924. I could have spent hours scavenging the surrounding blocks, looking for more pieces of this person's life. I felt a little frantic, almost as though I had a moral obligation to gather them all into one place out of respect for whoever might have lost them. Or thrown them away.
My collection of personal letters has exceeded its original suitcase and is now spilling into an old hat box. Its growth has slowed considerably with the advent of the internet and Lex not being in the field as much. Every so often I glance at the case, which holds half conversations spanning the mid 1980's through today, and wonder what might happen to them in sixty or seventy years.
If you looked back at all of your old letters, what would they say about you? If someone was to stumble upon a piece or two of you in the street, what clues would the finder work from and what would they learn?
Posted by callalillie at September 13, 2006 7:44 AM | Found History
, History
, Little Things
the thought of someone finding any letter i'd written before 1995 makes me cringe. as it is, i've shredded my diaries from 1979-now.
Posted by: grumpygirl at September 13, 2006 9:14 AM
I think you might enjoy the song by the kinks, "scattered" on the album, Phobia. Rest of the album isn't so great though...
Posted by: Davey at September 13, 2006 9:44 AM
My letters from my teen years would show that I was completely obsessed with the same boy for about 6 years and couldn't understand why he didn't like me. I was quite tiresome, really and all notes are on one topic.
Unfortunately, I had no gay-dar back then :(
Posted by: Maura at September 13, 2006 10:18 AM
I have copies of some of my letters from twenty-two years ago, but few from earlier (lack of access to copiers, mostly). Mine would show that I was obsessed with tactile and kinesthetic details around me (I tended -- still do -- to start letters with descriptions of where I was, what I could smell, taste, hear, feel and see), and then wondering where the other person was when reading and responding to my letters.
Posted by: Velma at September 13, 2006 10:55 AM
Sometimes I used to write to Chris when he moved to California. He would respond with letters and doodles about his cats and friends. He kept track of my antisocial Fritzina for almost twenty years with comic sketches and anecdotes. I came across one of his handprinted cards in an old book recently and had a good chuckle.
Posted by: Vickie at September 13, 2006 3:40 PM
What I notice is the ornate style of handwriting, and from what I see, the lack of spelling errors.
Handwriting, as taught in school, has grown progressively less complex (take a look at the Declaration of Independence; most educated people wrote in that ornate script in 1776).
Even in 1924, it seemed a lot more involved than the shorthand people use now. Pretty much the only handwriting script I use now is when I sign a check or whatever.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Posted by: Kevin Walsh at September 13, 2006 8:39 PM
you have the most amazing photos on this site....
Posted by: Goddess In The City at September 13, 2006 9:17 PM
you find the coolest things!
my mom has a collection of letters from around WWI era--from someone we're distantly related to. letters to and from ''my beloved''. They're very interesting.
when i read them, it evokes a sort of nostalgia.
Posted by: seton at September 13, 2006 9:19 PM
Posted by: yp at September 14, 2006 9:54 AM
