Remember the scrapbook I posted images of last week? Within the blank pages were tucked 3 letters dated 1885, 1888 and 1908. 
Beautiful handwritten sentiments from a time when families where often separated for months and years. They not only corresponded by letter, but with such lovely penmanship. I’ve done my best to read each, although not an easy task. The letter from sister to sister is from a woman of 87 years. I thought they were such beautiful images of vintage ephemera for use in your craft, design and scrapbook projects.
Click each to enlarge for keeping.
I often wonder how much history we are losing by our communication being written through the computer. I rarely print off an email and of course there isn't a hint of handwriting when I do. I received a letter last fall and it made my entire week. And yet I never found the time to reply to her. Hopefully some people do keep up the beauty of the handwritten word. I try to journal when I think of it. Of course my script isn't as beautiful as these letters.
I am an avid genealogist and love family history. Whenever I see "lost" pictures or letters (lost to the direct line family) the first thing I think of is the family and how sad it is that they don't have these valuable pieces of history anymore. If I found such letters within my family, I'd be THRILLED! I am constantly hunting for things such as these. What a treasure.
Such wonderful ties to our past, and such a lost art. Thank you for sharing these treasures
Thank you for sharing! I love using letters and ironically just finished putting a wax collage in my etsy store that highlighted a letter from 1911! I often wonder who these people were and always have a little story going on in my head about them as I create… Thanks for the inspiration, Theresa
Thank you so much for posting these, Cathe. They're beautiful! (And now they're available for genealogists to find, too! Hooray!)
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I love reading old letters and postcards. Daydreaming of that era in time and such lovely penmanship. I have been looking for scrapbook paper like this use in a collage. I did not find any, so thanks so much. This just make my day.
Have a blessed weekend
Wow, these are truly wonderful, and thank you so much for sharing them!
There is nothing like receiving something in the post especially from someone far away. I just recently starting sending more cards overseas to family and hope that they find these as a special surprise rather than just an email. Thanks for the beautiful images and words.
Recently, while going through my parents' memories, I found a letter my dad had written to my mom before they were wed. He traveled all over Florida, while she lived and worked in Tampa. There is such sweetness written…things I never dreamed of my dad saying. It's a treasure…
and it made me go back to read the letters my husband wrote to me…
Why don't we do this anymore?!!!
Jane (artfully graced)
A handwritten letter is so much more personal to open and read over and over than an email. I still have letters from my Grandmother from the 1980's that I'll get out once in a blue moon.
Thanks for sharing these beautiful letters, Cathe! I'm hoping that some family member will recognize these letters as being written by their ancestors- but that might be a stretch.
They would also be lovely to use in projects. I made a lampshade for my husband with transferred images from old family letters dating from WWI and black and white images of many ancestors as well as our own family. It was an ambitious project, but it is one of our favorite items.
so endearing, thank you!
SO love the written word…especially by those who had NO idea we would be reading it over a hundred years later.
I have one friend who REFUSES to get a computer..and I get real hand written notes from her…but like others, find it so hard to put aside the time to write back.
But it's true, the next generation will have almost nothing like this to read from us.
Sad when you thin of it.
Rose
http://delightfulclutter.blogspot.com/
I love the beauty of handwrite so much. Thank you a lot!
Thank you! This blog post will be advertised on CraftCrave in the Printables category today (look for timestamp: [13 Feb 01:27pm GMT]).
These are gorgeous!!Having dabbled in calligraphy for many years I just love seeing beautiful handwriting & love using letters in my craft/digital stuff! Thanks so much for sharing.
What a treasure! I find it interesting that the last letter is addressed "Dear Wife" instead of by her first name. How times have changed.
Happy Hearts to you and yours. Thank you for always being so generous with your wonderful ideas. Keep creating…
Beautiful penmanship. And to think that I only write in plain and ugly block letters, as an heritage from my "rebel" teenage years (as a child, I was taught to write cursive and with a fountain pen)!
PS I'm glad you found a sewing box, they are beautiful (and functional) objects.
Oh how beautifully written these letter are. I have some recipes written in my grandmother's handwriting and I wouldn't take anything for them! Thank you for sharing. I love them!
Oh, these are just beautiful! I found your blog a few days ago, and it's already become my favourite. You post the most amazing things!
Also, I noticed that you said that you were having difficulty reading these? The handwriting in the letters is quite similar to my own, which I can (thankfully) read, so… It might be a bit redundant, but I'd be more than happy to type the content of the letters up for you. ^__^ They're quite sweet, although, I do feel like I'm eavesdropping… XD
Anyway, thank you so much again for sharing these! All the best~
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Wow… You are so generous! I am sure a lot of your fantastic downloads will end up on my cards and scrapbooking pages. You rock. THANK YOU!
How WONDERFUL of you to share these images with us. I am a budding art journalist, and do not have a stock of special things to use yet. These old writing pages are beautiful, and I am printing them all off.
It takes a special woman to create and share for free this kind of ephemera with others. Thank you so very much!!
I love vintage letters. My great-aunt gave me a letter that my maternal great-grandfather wrote to my great-grandmother in 1912. It is written in pencil and the paper is deteriorating. Do you have any tips for me to preserve my letter? Thanks so much for all of your generosity.
These are simply divine. I’ve got two trunks in our basement full of letters written between my great-grandparents during the Great War. Modern times will never know romantic beauty like that.
Can’t tell you how much I enjoyed these letters. I just stumbled on your website & love it. My father-in-law recently passed but had grown up in Hyde Park, MA while my mother-in-law is from Maine. Such a neat connection & so nice to hear them speak of their faith.