I'm utterly humbled...

[crokett]

Well you learn something new every day. I always thought Prohibition was repealed earlier than 1930. You do need to save those letters Alex. They are a living history. You should contact UNC's History Deptartment or a similar group. I bet they would love to at least have copies of the letters.

[Alex Franke]

Here's another cool tidbit: (Brooklyn, October 13, 1930)

"With this I’m sending you a gramophone recording which I had made when I visited the Paramount Theater. They say that is the most elegant theater in the world. It cost 35 cents and I thought that I could send this with my voice to you and the children."

"A film was being shown at reduced prices (40 cents) and since I had heard so much about the wonderful interior of this theater I decided to go. The interior is really extraordinary. I never saw such luxury anywhere else, and the lighting effects were wonderful as well. However the talkie itself was nothing special."

"In a side room one could put one’s voice onto a record and so I did that and hope to give you pleasure with it. Too bad that the whole song did not get on the disc in its entirety. It ran out before the song ended and I did not want to spend another 35 cents in order to sing the song faster. Perhaps you’ll find someone who has a gramophone to play the disc. You’ll have to use the enclosed needles since most other needles are too pointed and would scratch up the disc."

These letters really really make the history come alive. I'm definitely going to save them... I think I'm going to use one of those one-off book publishers to get a nicely bound copy for my father and his sister.

[gsmittle]

Alex, I'm trained as a historian, and like many have already said, these letters are the kind of thing historians drool over.

Definitely make photocopies and keep the originals in a safe-deposit box for the time being. Then you might want to talk to the local Historical Society about how best to preserve the letters. I'm assuming they're pretty yellowed, although paper in the 1930s was not as acidic as nowadays. Invest in some white cotton gloves (about a quarter each, IIRC) and handle the letters wearing the gloves.

I'm curious: are the letters in German or English?

g.

[Alex Franke]

Alex, I'm trained as a historian, and like many have already said, these letters are the kind of thing historians drool over.

Definitely make photocopies and keep the originals in a safe-deposit box for the time being. Then you might want to talk to the local Historical Society about how best to preserve the letters. I'm assuming they're pretty yellowed, although paper in the 1930s was not as acidic as nowadays. Invest in some white cotton gloves (about a quarter each, IIRC) and handle the letters wearing the gloves.

I'm curious: are the letters in German or English?

g.

Letters from my grandmother were written in an old Prussian script that probably hasn't even been taught since the 30's. Those from my grandfather were written in a more current (but still difficult to read) script. My Aunt (the daughter of the couple that wrote the letters) is transcribing/translating them, and the letters are coming to me as they're completed. I'm getting them all into the computer. I'll check out the gloves -- I think that's probably a good idea.

I also have about 350 postcards from 1914-1917, when he was courting her while deployed on a cruise to the Far East. They're fascinating, too. His goal, I'm told, was to send a postcard of every ship in the (German) navy at the time. There are probably about 250 ships, plus a lot of postcards of general navy life.

I started scanning some of those, and some WWI Navy buffs in Germany are helping to translate them.

I've posted a couple sets of those on my blog at http://www.theFrankes.com - it's very cool to see a photo history of a navy as its fleet transitioned from masted sailing ships to more modern ships. And the comments on the postcards are also interesting -- e.g. "On the other side you see how an ocean liner runs over a sailing ship. We similarily rammed a warship with the Gneisenau [his ship] in the Kattegat."

This is making me want to become a historian myself! The letters specifically are truly engaging and they tie into so much general history that I've heard about -- like talkies and gramophones in the last excerpt. ...and the tragedy, too -- so far a couple people have killed themselves apparently due to the depression.

Plus, I made an interesting connection. My grandfather talks about about the companies he's working for, and it turns out that a friend of mine is an executive of a company that now owns one of them. It was a very small company back then, but now a pretty big one. She's going to see if she can get any old photos for me.

I'll post more on this thread as I come across them if there's still interest.

I can get over how much fun this is!

[Ed62]

Alex, you have hit pure gold! Those are things you want to hand down for future generations.

I never knew my father because he died when I was about 5 weeks old. My mother knew little about his side of the family, but she had some letters he sent to his sister from Europe during WWI.

I've also dug into the family tree, and found out my great grandparents on his side immigrated in 1854 from Germany. Since my father had relatives in Germany, he was not allowed (as a soldier) anywhere near information the Germans could use. I didn't know about that until well after I was married.

Take good care of those letters, and make digital copies of them, just in case.

Ed

[lago]

I went thru something like that but not that big a scale. Mom passed away about 10 years ago. Dad passed away about 2 years ago. In going thru everything, we came across letters that Dad wrote when he was in the service during WWII. The letters started when he went into basic, then the troop ship to Japan and his stay in Japar as part of the Occupation Forces. Only wish we had the letters that Mom wrote to him.

Ken

[Alex Franke]

Here's another interesting tidbit, since this topic has been in the news lately. (Please -- This is not an invitation to discuss the current politics surrounding this topic. I just think it's an interested historical perspective. It is what it is, and that's all.)

I put the inflation-adjusted values in brackets.

During the last week I applied for workmen’s health insurance. Whether they accept me depends on a medical examination which I’ll have to subject myself to next week. Entrance fee is $8.50 [$108] and the regular premium is $6.60 [$84] every quarter year. In the case of illness I’ll have free medical treatment and would receive $15 [$190] for 40 weeks and $7.50 [$95] for another 40 weeks. I’d have to pay for medicines myself. Death benefits would be $185 [$2,345]. It’s a lot of money that I must pay, but at least one is insured although I also wish that I will never need to use this insurance.

[Alex Franke]

Another interesting bit. Tensions mounting due to WWI reparations, machinations, the unsettled power struggle, and the depression... You can really feel the economic pinch in a lot of these letters. The urgency of this was striking: Quickly -- take all your money and exchange it for gold!

(Edit: Coincidentally this was precisely one year after the previous excerpt!)

My Dear Lotte!

Many thanks for your dear letter of June 28 which I received on Friday, June 10.

Today’s newspapers contained very unsettling news about the state of affairs in Germany. The Hanover plans for Germany seem to have been crowded out by some of France’s machinations so that now Germany stands in danger of bankruptcy, another inflation, and perhaps a revolution and entry of French troops unless help arrives at the last minute. So, if you possibly can, take your money to Holland quickly, exchange it for guilders and put it into a savings bank, for instance the City Savings Bank not a commercial bank.

More Info: She went to the bank several times over the next couple of weeks, but they were very reluctant to return money -- sounds like they were trying to prevent a run.