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Letters

Monroe in the 1952 film Don’t Bother to Knock

Marilyn Monroe Collections Assembled for Her 100th Birthday Cut Through Hollywood Glamour to Reveal the Star’s Human Side

A selection of the movie star’s clothing, jewelry and dark, personal letters will be auctioned for the big anniversary of her birth

The collection includes writings on Franklin’s experiments with electricity.

Before He Was a Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin Founded the Lending Library. Now His Belongings Are on Display There Before Heading to Auction

In 1731, book lover Franklin created the Library Company of Philadelphia, where this week visitors can see a collection of his papers worth an estimated $3 million to $4.5 million

"By the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies," Abigail Adams wrote on March 31, 1776.

America's 250th Anniversary

Abigail Adams Asked Her Husband to ‘Remember the Ladies’ as He Drafted America’s Laws. Here’s What She Really Meant

She wrote the letter that would come to define her legacy on March 31, 1776. But 250 years later, Americans are misinterpreting her open-ended request

The new “American Bison” Forever stamp is slated to debut in May.

See the New U.S. Postage Stamp Honoring the Bison, America’s National Mammal

The stamp features a modern image by Montana-based wildlife photographer Tom Murphy alongside a historic bison stamp design from 1923

Vincent van Gogh's Wheatfield With a Reaper (1889) is one of more than 50 artworks and objects on view in an exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Vincent van Gogh Adored the Color Yellow. A New Exhibition in Amsterdam Wants You to Fall In Love With the Hue, Too

The Dutch artist’s paintings showcase plants, landscapes, objects and buildings in bold shades of yellow

A pair of vinegar valentines poking fun at the recipients’ looks

Feeling More Hate Than Love This Valentine’s Day? Send Snarky ‘Vinegar Valentines’ to Your Enemies Like the Victorians Did

These oft-anonymous messages took aim at pretentious poets, unhelpful salespeople, suffragists and secessionists alike

The exhibition features the last letter that Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, sent to Elizabeth I in 1588.

Read Love Letters From Royals and Romantics Across 500 Years of British History

A new exhibition at Britain’s National Archives features a letter to Elizabeth I, Jane Austen’s will and a plea to free Oscar Wilde from prison

Portraits of Oscar Wilde taken in New York in 1882

Oscar Wilde’s Portraits, Poems, Letters and Manuscripts Head to Auction 125 Years After His Death

Other rare items, available for purchase in February, include illustrations, theater programs, telegrams and newspapers

The Hornet's Nest, Jimmy Carter, 2003

You Can Buy President Jimmy Carter’s Paintings, Furniture, Mementos and a Love Letter to His Wife

Christie’s selected the items with help from the president’s daughter, Amy, for a special sale in celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday

Denmark's state-run postal service is dismantling its iconic red mailboxes and will end letter delivery service on December 30.

Denmark’s Postal Service Is About to Stop Delivering Physical Letters After 400 Years

As the volume of letters plummets, PostNord, the government-owned postal service of Denmark and Sweden, will stop transporting letters in Denmark on December 30, though it will continue distributing packages

Mary wrote the letter in French around 2 a.m. on the day of her execution.

Mary, Queen of Scots, Wrote This Letter Hours Before She Was Executed. Her Words Are Going on Display for the First Time in Years

The deposed Scottish queen wrote the four-page missive to her brother-in-law just a few hours before her execution in 1587

A letter from Jane Austen to her sister, Cassandra, discussing the publication of Pride and Prejudice in 1813

Jane Austen’s Letters Are the Closest We Can Get to Her. What Do They Reveal About the ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Author?

This year marks the English novelist’s 250th birthday. Her hundreds of surviving letters—both real and fictional—offer valuable insights into her imaginative wit and enduring appeal

Debra Brown found the bottle on Wharton Beach near her home in Esperance, Western Australia.

Cool Finds

109-Year-Old Messages in a Bottle Written by Soldiers Heading to Fight in World War I Discovered on Australian Beach

The two letters survived the past century inside a Schweppes-brand bottle, which Debra Brown found on Wharton Beach in early October

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When Historians Rediscovered These Frederick Douglass Letters, They Were Surprised by His Candid Opinions About Abraham Lincoln

In correspondence with a passionate abolitionist in London, the great American orator didn’t hold back when talking about the 16th president, or his successor, the much-maligned Andrew Johnson

Clockwise from top left: Abigail Adams, Harriet Jacobs, Zora Neale Hurston and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Four Famous American Women Who Were Also Prolific Letter Writers

In a long and storied tradition, these bold women recorded history—and shaped it—through their correspondence

People line up for rations of beans and water in Japan following the country's defeat in World War II, in September 1945.

A Batch of Undelivered WWII Letters Intended for Japanese Soldiers Ended Up in an Oregon Museum Decades Later. Now, Experts Are Returning the Lost Correspondence to Their Families

An organization devoted to returning artifacts as a way to heal the emotional wounds left by the war is helping the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum send these deeply personal items to the writers’ descendants

The letter sold at auction in April and is now on display at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver.

See Rare Letters From a Titanic Passenger, Who Called the Vessel a ‘Fine Ship’ Days Before It Sank

Archibald Gracie’s letter, which recently sold at auction, is part of a new exhibition at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver

The Kaweah Post Office (ZIP code 93271) building in Three Rivers is one of the oldest functioning post offices in the United States, dating back to 1910. 

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Postal Service With These 15 Photographs

These shots from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest are truly a dream delivery

The Love Letter, Johannes Vermeer, circa 1669-70

See Three Breathtaking Vermeer Paintings That Capture the Lost Art of Letter Writing

A trio of the 17th-century Dutch painter’s works featuring women writing and receiving letters is on display at the recently reopened Frick Collection

Ever since its departure from England exactly 180 years ago, on May 19, 1845, the Franklin expedition has captivated the public’s imagination.

The Shipwrecks From John Franklin’s Doomed Arctic Expedition Were Exactly Where the Inuit Said They Would Be

In May 1845, 129 British officers and crew members set out in search of the Northwest Passage on HMS “Erebus” and HMS “Terror.” None returned

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