#historicalletters

[tildosacchinischool]

📜 A father’s letter, 1942.

Tomaso Monicelli writes to his son Mario—future film director—between war, family, and everyday life. A moving glimpse into private history. 👉 Read more: https://www.tildosacchinischool.it/archivio-sacchini/tomaso-monicelli-20-maggio-1942/

[tildosacchinischool]

📮 June 17, 1945: Love letter from post-war Milan

Censored words, soaring prices, closed factories. Vittorio writes to Mariantonietta from a liberated but chaotic Italy. A raw testimony of survival between hope and violence.

Read the full letter 👉 https://www.tildosacchinischool.it/archivio-sacchini/vincenzo-bosotto-17-giugno-1945/

[tildosacchinischool]

📜 Venice, Jan 1944.

Vittorio Bosotto debates tourism's future in war-torn Italy. Lost messages, moral doubts & hopes for reconstruction.

A raw, moving historical testimony.

Read the letters 👉 https://www.tildosacchinischool.it/archivio-sacchini/vittorio-bosotto-27-28-gennaio-1944/

[tildosacchinischool]

🎖️March 1940

March 1940. Franco Ducci, 17, writes home from military barracks dreaming of Easter with family—but destiny calls him to Yugoslavia's border. A moving wartime letter revealing love, duty, and the weight of history. Read his untold story. ✉️

Franco Ducci. 22 marzo 1940 - tildo sacchini school

Casalecchio di Reno 20 – 3 – 940 – XVIII Carissimo papà, rispondo ora alla tua assicurata pervenutami una mezz’ora fa / ora imbucarla staser

[uispeccoll]

Sterns Family Papers

Well, today wraps up our series on the Sterns Family Papers.  I figured there was no better post to leave you all with, than an image of Thomas Rescum Sterns’ pen, stamp container (there was even still a stamp in it!), and the final letter he wrote to his wife.  

In this letter, Thomas mentioned feeling a little under the weather.  However, his illness proved to be more than he first thought, and on the train ride home, where he was to be reunited with his family, he fell ill and passed away.  

It has really been an honor to learn about this man and his family, and such a unique feeling to have access to so many letters and personal items of his. Collections like these are why I love my job!  

If you missed any of the posts about the Sterns Family Papers, you can check them out, here.  And if you want to learn more, you can always read through the letters on the Iowa Digital Library!  And of course, if this has left you with any lingering questions, please feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to find the answer.  

Your ever-curious (aspiring) librarian, 

-Kelly

MsC 0405

Sterns Family Papers, University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa City, Iowa.

[uispeccoll]

Sterns Family Papers

Today we’re looking at another set of photographs and the letter that accompanies them.  This picture was taken when Thomas Rescum Sterns was serving as a soldier for the Union during the Civil War.  In the letter accompanying this handsome photo he said,   

“I have had my picture taken which I will with this letter you may think what you have a mind to but I sit as careless as I could and my hair was all over my head and my face and clothes were all dust but it looks natural for all that which if had fixed up nice it would not have looked so well.”

So it seems as though Thomas Rescum Sterns was pretty happy with the end result of this photograph, even if he didn't feel he looked his best on the date the picture was taken.  

The original picture is found in a small, ornate, wooden box with a golden frame.  If you look closely, you may see a little blush on Thomas’ cheeks on this black and white photograph.  It seems as though the picture was colored in, as was a common practice at the time, to make Thomas Rescum Sterns’ face look robust and healthy.   

You can take a look at this letter, and its transcription on the Iowa Digital Library’s webpage.  Stay tuned every Saturday and Tuesday for more discoveries from this collection!  If you miss a post, don’t fret!  You can check them all out here: http://uispeccoll.tumblr.com/tagged/sternsfamilypapers

-Kelly

MsC 0405

Sterns Family Papers, University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa City, Iowa.  

[uispeccoll]

Sterns Family Papers

The best part about working in an archive is that I get paid to read other people’s mail.  Some of it is boring, some if it is really important, and there are a few that are just downright hilarious.  

It turns out that Thomas Rescum Sterns was quite the comedian, and also a little bit of a complainer.  While he took most things in stride, it seemed as though the crackers being served to him during his time as a civil war soldier were almost more than he could bear.   He mentions the staleness of these crackers in several letters, but I think he describes it best in these two letters, dated November 12, 1862, and December 10th, 1862.  Respectively, he writes:

“As I told you in my other letter our bread is principally crackers. A day or two ago Dolph had been to dinner eating crackers of course. We found one that was marked 1801 and another the date being still earlier. It being made in Nazareth B.C. 36. You may judge whether they are old and hard or not. You need not be afraid of my getting killed by the enemy's bullets for this reason. Just before I go into battle, if such may be the case, I shall fill myself as full as possible with these crackers which of course are hard and then I shall oil my belly and of course if the bullets strike me then glance as though they had struck an ironclad gunboat.”

“You tell Mr Matthews that we have other use for our crackers besides eating them for we use them for break [?] and sometimes we wear one for a breastplate when we are on picket duty.”

Keep up with the Sterns Family Papers every Saturday and Tuesday this month!  And if you want to learn more, you can always read through the letters on the Iowa Digital Library, and if you miss a post, you can check them all out, here! 

-Kelly 

MsC 0405

Sterns Family Papers, University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa City, Iowa.