Letters of Note
As an unabashed primary documents geek, I’m always looking for online and print resources that I can share with kids and teachers. And during a quick Plurk check several days ago, I ran across a great site thanks to undercover history buff JerryButler.
Titled Letters of Note, the site
is an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos.
It seems a bit like a Wikipedia version of the National Archives or the Library of Congress if you and I were in charge. Basically just a guy who collects and confirms interesting tidbits of history. (Read more about the creator and his inspiration here.)
My first introduction was a post documenting a letter from Kurt Vonnegut to his family after he was released from a World War II German prisoner of war camp. Of course, that led to an hour of digging through the rest of the site.
What did I find? Among other things:
- The odd request by Elvis Presley to Richard Nixon asking to become “Federal Agent at Large”
- A slightly creepy note from Monica Lewinsky to Bill Clinton
- A humorous letter from Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons
- An important letter from Jackie Robinson to Dwight Eisenhower asking for help in the Civil Rights movement
A new document is posted everyday and while not every one is a winner (or appropriate for classroom use), Letters of Note is now my new favorite RSS feed!
