Letters

Finds ranged from a portrait of Adolf Hitler to a revolver, gas masks, Nazi Party badges, brass knuckles, letters and documents.

Trove of Nazi Artifacts Found Stashed in Wall of German House

Likely hidden as the Allies advanced on the city at the end of WWII, the cache includes gas masks, a revolver and boxes of documents

Plath's recipe cards and rolling pin reflect her love of cooking—and her conflicted relationship with domestic life.

Explore Sylvia Plath's Love Letters, Recipe Cards and Tarot Deck

A trove of the American poet's personal possessions recently sold at auction for more than $1 million

The letter sheds light on Jenner's beliefs about the use of cowpox and horsepox in vaccination.

Letter From 'Father of Vaccination' Edward Jenner Sold at Auction

Jenner wrote that new research 'put a stop to the sneers' of 'little minded persons'

L to R: Anna, the eldest van Gogh sister; Elisabeth, or Lies; and Willemien, the youngest, who was better known as Wil

New Book Details the Lives of Vincent van Gogh's Sisters Through Their Letters

The missives reveal that the Impressionist artist's family paid for his younger sibling's medical care by selling 17 of his paintings

Researchers suspect that a soldier and his girlfriend wrote the missives between 1941 and 1944.

World War II Couple's Love Letters Found Beneath British Hotel's Floorboards

Workers discovered a trove of wartime artifacts, including chocolate wrappers, cigarette packets and correspondence

The researchers virtually opened the letters with an advanced X-ray machine. They then used computers to analyze the folds and create a readable, digital model of the unfolded message.

How Researchers Are Reading Centuries-Old Letters Without Opening Them

A new technique enables scholars to unlock the secrets of long-sealed missives

Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Ralph Abernathy are taken in for questioning by Birmingham police in 1962.

Rare Birmingham Jail Logbook Pages Signed by MLK Resurface After Decades

Two sheets of paper from the Alabama prison where the activist penned a famous 1963 letter sold at auction for more than $130,000

Famed illustrator Thomas Nast designed this celebration of emancipation, with Abraham Lincoln inset at the bottom, in 1865

Black Lives Certainly Mattered to Abraham Lincoln

A look at the president's words and actions during his term shows his true sentiments on slavery and racial equality

The Temperance Society objected to the card's inclusion of a child sipping wine.

The First Commercially Printed Christmas Card Scandalized Victorian England

Two rare copies of the 1843 greeting card, which depicts a child sipping from a glass of wine, are now up for auction

Roosevelt exchanged lively correspondence with all kinds of people for much of his life.

Library of Congress Seeks Volunteers to Transcribe Letters to Theodore Roosevelt

The campaign is part of a broader crowdsourcing effort aimed at making archival materials more accessible to the public

Letters are a key part of Jane Austen's novels

A New Edition of 'Pride and Prejudice' Crosses Its T's and Dots Its I's

Barbara Heller used period handwriting—and new material—to bring the novel’s colorful letters to life

Thousands of volunteers helped transcribe the Library of Congress' Lincoln letters.

Read Thousands of Abraham Lincoln's Newly Transcribed Letters Online

The missives, preserved by the Library of Congress, include notes to and from the beloved president

A 1928 portrait of physicist Albert Einstein by Lotte Jacobi

Tesla's Patents, Einstein's Letters and an Enigma Machine Are Up for Auction

Christie's Eureka! sale features personal and academic objects owned by 20th-century scientists

The so-called "Letter From Heaven" was marketed as a message from Jesus himself, conveying instructions and conferring protection on those who sent them to others.

Before Chain Letters Swept the Internet, They Raised Funds for Orphans and Sent Messages From God

Recipe exchanges, poetry chains, photo challenges and other ostensibly comforting prompts are enjoying a resurgence amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Now behind fences erected by the police, the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C.'s Lincoln Park has been criticized ever since its dedication.

What Frederick Douglass Had to Say About Monuments

In a newly discovered letter, the famed abolitionist wrote that ‘no one monument could be made to tell the whole truth'

Though much has changed since 1918, the sentiments shared in writings from this earlier pandemic are likely to resonate with modern readers.

What We Can Learn From 1918 Influenza Diaries

These letters and journals offer insights on how to record one's thoughts amid a pandemic

Mail was slow and spotty during wartime. But that didn't stop homesick soldiers from penning love letters by the thousands.

New Orleans Museum Spotlights World War II Soldiers' Love Letters

War is often billed as being all about guns and guts. But there's glory in gushiness, too

Charles Dickens, seen at his desk in 1858

Charles Dickens Museum Acquires Trove of Author's Unpublished Letters

The London museum recently purchased more than 300 literary artifacts assembled by a private collector in the U.S.

The letters were kept under wraps for 50 years.

Emily Hale Was T.S. Eliot's Confidante—and More, Suggest Newly Unsealed Letters

Despite Eliot’s assertions to the contrary, the letters point to a passionate love between the duo

On Christmas Eve 1869, a bird-related incident ruffled Charles Dickens' feathers.

Charles Dickens Lost His Last Christmas Turkey to a Freak Fire

A rediscovered letter reveals the famed author forgave the railway company that botched his holiday delivery

Page 3 of 9