Tag: Envelopes

JANUARY POSTS: #1- Esther saved each letter

#1 – ESTHER SAVED EACH LETTER

Esther told me she saved all the letters starting with the very first one.  She kept them in this envelope.  The envelope and the letters inside it are at least 72 years old.  Esther’s handwriting: “Sols letters“.

On view:  1 manila envelope with Sols letters written on it.

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Esther’s envelope

The letters were mostly in order, facing up, with the first letter from December 1944 on the top of the pile and the last letter from January 1946 on the bottom.

They were not clipped or stapled and were only folded if the actual letter had been folded when originally mailed.  They had been carefully handled. The letters had weathered and faded in places. Solly only wrote on one side of a piece of stationary and used additional folded sheets as insets, numbering the tops of pages so you knew which page or side of stationary to pull out and read next.

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Example of stationary layout. This letter will be easier to read when posted with the May, 1945 letters

The photos were scanned at 2400 dpi and some at 1200 dpi.  The letters were mostly scanned at 600 dpi.  Both the photos and letters were formatted slightly to restore some of the tonal qualities time had weakened.