Get inspired to revive the art of letter writing with Letters of Note
Photo: Kriss Szkurlatowski
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Need a little inspiration to pick up a pen and paper and get back to letter writing? Let Letters of Note be your influence to return to the intimacy of hand-written notes.
Letters of Note collects interesting pieces of correspondence in the form of letters, postcards, telegrams, postcards, faxes and memos.
Scanned images are spotlighted on the website and with pieces on everything from advice, to love, art to politics and science to religion, there is something for everyone.
Selected Notes
There are letters from presidents (Ronald Reagan), rock stars (Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie), and an infamously melancholy letter from a troubled writer to her husband (Virginia Woolf).
This coded letter combines doodled images with words for a fun way to express one’s love.
This series of letters between Dr. Seuss, aka Theodore Geisel and a fan and aspiring illustrator, both as a child and later an adult, show how fans can share the impact their idols have had on their lives with their idols themselves.
Letters of Note is a wonderful website to browse through, and it provides a wonderful remembrance of the wonders of snail mail.
The Toronto Connection
Toronto is even represented in the collection, with this correspondence between Frederick Banting and a young boy.
Banting, along with J. J. R. Macleod, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. That telegram, which is part of the Discovery of Insulin Collection at the University of Toronto Library, is shown alongside a letter of thanks from one of the first batch of diabetic patients.
The Bottom Line
Letter writing may have fallen by the wayside with so many alternate ways to keep in touch with friends and family.
Letters of Note is like a scrapbook of life and it is proof positive that we should not allow this art to be completely lost to technology.
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Comments
Interesting. I'll have to check that out.
Now I'll have some inspiration to use the beautiful stationery I got for my birthday! Thanks for the tip.
My kid will never write a letter...how sad!
Letter writing is a lost art...I miss them.
Nice article~ so true. I'm afraid speaking to another person is also going to be a lost art.........everything is text, e-mail, etc.....
I try to make it a point to write my family & friends letters (or at least a postcard) a few times a year. But I do fear it's a dying art. Love the Geisel examples.
Very good,
I wonder if David Bowie still responds to his fan mail...
Excellent article! I remember as a child having penpals all over the world. I had one in Australia, one in England, one in Canada and several right here in the USA. I used to get so excited when I would get a letter from one of them.
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