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| SOLDIERS WRITING HOME 1918 : SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FLICKR COMMONS STREAM |
"And don't forget to write" was a phrase lobbed at the back of many a departing relative in years gone by. Whether it was husbands marching off to war, kids skipping off to college, or Auntie Mary returning to her cottage in the next town, writing letters home was once as common as a quick text message to say "home safe and sound". But unlike texts, letters home were once far richer sources of history, packed as they were with thoughts, impressions, memories and gossip. Our theme this week revolves around letters home and you can interpret it as widely as you want. It might be letters, it might be cards, it might be writing, it might be people far away from home. All you need to do is to feature an old photograph and tell us a little about it. Post your posts on or around Saturday 16 August 2014 and then link your post to the list below. And then celebrate the theme by keeping in touch with all your fellow Sepians by a quick visit and a few well chosen words home.
Before you put digital pen to paper, take a look at what is coming over the next few weeks.
242 : Fans, faces, national costumes, hidden meanings
243 : Running away, escaping the crowds, beaches, steam train, aquarium (domed)
Back to this week - it is time to say what should be said. Clean sheet of paper. Address at the top. Dear Sepians, .......
Poignant tales of letters home from the front.
ReplyDeleteDear Alan. My family either didn't write much or didn't save much because I found little in the archives. I'm leaving for a month or so but will do my writing home 2014 style via Facebook. Yours in Sepia, Helen
ReplyDeleteCouldn't resist a little fun, but included something a tad more serious as well.
ReplyDeleteMy experience of writing home was in less trying circumstances that these soldiers experienced, but from even further away!
ReplyDeleteFound some old photos of high school teens in 34, wearing uniforms.
ReplyDeleteAn old postcard evokes teenage memories.
ReplyDeleteMy great-great uncle Lute, from Shanghai in 1879...what a lovely, lost art!
ReplyDeleteLetter from a child
ReplyDeleteA father's letter to his daughter in 1934
ReplyDelete2 letters to my grandparents from their nephew in Germany in 1945.
ReplyDeleteAbout the YMCA in WWI and letters for the folks at home.
ReplyDeleteA photo and postcard from 1918 with a soldier's message to home.
ReplyDeleteI want a job as a letter writer. Any takers?
ReplyDeleteFollowing a lead - sham fight - in an 1889 letter.
ReplyDeleteA really fun prompt!
ReplyDeleteI don't have pictures of soldiers to share today but I do have a letter written by a World War I soldier to my grandmother.
ReplyDeleteLate I'm late..I'm terribly late...will get around to looking and commenting on others this evening I hope.
ReplyDeleteI linked to an older post but forgot I had closed comments for posts older than 30 days. I've taken that off for now so comments are open. I'm finding spam quite poetic so maybe I'll find use for the possible upsurge in spam.
ReplyDeleteAll sorts of letters! I just made it for Saturday too. With a couple hours to spare!
ReplyDeleteWhat started as a simple repetition of a letter, led to a lot of research.
ReplyDeleteSoldiers' Mail from the front during WW I.
ReplyDelete