This week in FYS on Letter Writing, we explored letters that were sent during World War II by Muhlenberg College students. I found this particularly interesting because the letters came from students who were actively serving in the war, and we were able to see both the letters sent out and their responses.
I was surprised to find that so many letters were still intact after all this time. The ones I looked at were very readable, which amazed me, as I had assumed that after so many years, there wouldn’t be as many surviving letters, and they wouldn’t be in such good condition.
One thing I found challenging was the handwriting. The style of handwriting they used when they wrote these letters is very different from how we write today. Most of the letters were written in either cursive or script, so I had to take my time reading them to fully understand what was being said.
One thing I found particularly interesting was that it wasn’t just letters; there were also postcards, pictures with writing on the back, and more! I really enjoyed going through all of these different items
Reading these letters raised a couple of questions for me. My first question is how these letters remained intact after so many decades, especially since paper can be fragile and easily damaged. My second question is how Muhlenberg College managed to recover these letters that were sent out. Did they reach out to families? Did the students return the letters to the school themselves? These are the biggest questions I have after what we covered this week.
What really stuck with me were the pictures that were in the folder I looked at, as they provided a visual example of what life was like during the war.
That’s all for my weekly writing! I really enjoyed class this week, and I’m excited to learn more about history and the role letter writing played during that time.