Thank you, Ersula Odom, Kyla Bayang, Kathy Stone, Jim the Historian, Lisa Rex, MamaCarole, Dr. Mary M. Marshall, and so many more of you for joining Jennifer Jones and me today. I can’t tell you how much it means to me here on the American Pacific coast to see all of you joining from the UK continent, Australia, and across the American states and Canadian provinces. Your thoughts, comments, and encouragement are the glue that holds this community together. The little ❤️s you drop keep us motivated and give this series a little more visibility. Feel free to create clips from this post to share with your friends.
Today’s conversation took us into the theme for Thursday’s Speakers’ Corner episode with Cynthia Boatright Raleigh and Helene | Letters from LaBelle, “Of Letters & Old Lace.” The theme brings together two writers who have written extensively about collections of handwritten materials.
For Cynthia, it was a remarkable series she did on her research into an autograph book she found in a flea market. The first in that series is below, but…
…our focus for Thursday’s program will be on a new story she hasn’t yet shared 👀.
For Helene, the theme relates to discoveries in a cache of handwritten letters her great-grandmother left behind in the nineteen sixties and early seventies.
Letters give us such a direct personal view into what’s in someone’s mind and what affects their daily life. In handwriting and choices of paper, ink, and stamps, they can convey a larger story. We shared personal experiences with extended writing partners and how collections of letters have affected our research.
I mentioned the 2024 Projectkin talk with author Kathryn Graven, the voice behind Memoirs of a Mask Maker, as she worked on her new project to tell the story of her grandmother’s year in India in 1923.
Project Recipe: Weaving a Grandmother's Letters into a Story » Kathryn Graven
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Kathryn Graven, author of “Memoirs of a Mask Maker” did not disappoint with her talk today. She deftly combined the heart of her grandmother Helen’s story with the professional craft of storytelling.
In the age of email and texting, letters are more important than ever. Join us to be inspired:
Of course none of this would be possible without our remarkable showrunner and storyteller, Jennifer Jones. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to be sure to follow her work at Tracking Down the Family.
Do you have friends or family members who may benefit from watching this program or viewing our other posts? Everyone is welcome here.
Please share our work and invite your friends to join us.
As Projectkin, we’re here to help families tell their stories in any form. I feel strongly that our collections of photos and other artifacts are key to our memories and, in turn, our stories. Have stories to tell? We’d love to have you share your story as part of the Speakers’ Corner.
