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  • Family letters
    • Main contributor: Gena Philibert-Ortega
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    Family letters include letters ancestors' wrote to family and friends and letters they received. Family letters provide information about our ancestors' lives that may not be found anywhere else. This includes vital record information (birth, marriage, and death) that might not be officially documented elsewhere.

    Envelopes
    Envelopes

    Genealogical information found in family letters, at the very least, provides a name, location, and date, placing your ancestor in a specific location and time. Beyond that, and depending on the subject of the letter, it may include:

    • Sender’s name and address
    • Receiver name and address
    • Envelope postmark indicating location and date mailed
    • Date
    • Mentions of other family and friends (possible FAN Club)
    • Activities
    • Events
    • Vital record events

    Family letters should be transcribed to study them better. Transcribing can aid in the ability to read the letter and analyze the content. Scanning the letter can also make preserving and transcribing easier, allowing the letter to be enlarged or the writing darkened for better visibility.

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    Issues when using family letters

    There are some considerations when using a family letter for genealogy.

    • Privacy. Letters contain information that was primarily meant for the letter writer and receiver. Family letters can reveal information that was not meant to be read by others or to be public knowledge. Family secrets revealed about a now-living or recently deceased family member or even a generations-old secret can be potentially hurtful to the family. Scandalous admissions in the past that aren't seen as reasons for concern today may still be painful to some descendants. When deciding to post information found in a letter, make sure to consider what should remain private.
    • Copyright. Having physical possession of a letter does not mean you own the copyright. Yes, copyright may play a part in your publishing those letters. Consult the copyright laws for the country of origin of those letters. For a discussion on the matter in the United States, see the Legal Genealogist blog posts listed below in Resources.
    • Preservation. Paper is fragile; over time, letters can be torn, crumble, develop stains from acids in the paper, and become weak at the folds. In addition, they can become difficult to read if a pencil is used and is now faded. Preserving the letters by scanning and creating a digital file is imperative. Store the original so that pages and envelopes are not touching and lay flat, not folded. Acid-Free, archival safe sheet protectors and boxes should be used.
    • Readability. Older letters may be difficult to read due to handwriting (legibility), older styled  writing, methods used to save paper, or "codes" used by the letter writer and receiver when they didn't want others to read what they wrote.

    Locating Family Letters

    Letters are generally a home source but in some cases, can be found in archival manuscript collections. To exhaust family letters as a home source, start by contacting family members about any letters they may have access to.

    Because family letters are ephemeral, meaning that the original receiver or another family member may have discarded them, it's not unusual for families not to have surviving letters. However, it is possible they can have been donated to an archive. It's not uncommon for family letters to be sold at estate sales or acquired in other ways and then donated to an archive.

    Various archives exist, including those for a local city, a historical society, a museum, or a library. Start by searching the catalogs for the repositories in the area your ancestor lived. Also, consider using a more extensive catalog such as WorldCat and ArchiveGrid to find possible copies. Consider searching using keywords for the location of your ancestor. Searching on just the surname may not be enough to locate possible letters.

    Suppose your family letters have been donated to an archive. In that case, you'll need to consult that repository for accessing the collection and ask about possible restrictions for accessing, copying, or publishing to an online source or printed publication.

    Don't forget that other people's family letters can benefit your research. Letters written by your ancestor's FAN Club (Friends, Associates, and Neighbors) can mention your ancestors by name and/or events they would have experienced. To find these letters, search catalogs discussed above by the name or the place where they lived. Some digital collections housed at universities or other repositories might also be helpful. There are institutional subscription databases of letter collections, such as Alexander Street PressBritish and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries, Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries from the American Antiquarian Society, and North American Women's Letters and Diaries available at larger public libraries, university libraries, and the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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