WebHeader_Grove.png
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Join as a sustainer and support independent local news for your community.

Rediscovered Trunk of 17th Century Letters A Link to the Past

A historian at Yale has been examining this treasure trove of undelivered letters, recently rediscovered in the Netherlands.
(©Signed, Sealed & Undelivered team, 2015. Courtesy of the Museum Voor Communicatie, the Hague, the Netherlands)
A historian at Yale has been examining this treasure trove of undelivered letters, recently rediscovered in the Netherlands. (©Signed, Sealed & Undelivered team, 2015. Courtesy of the Museum Voor Communicatie, the Hague, the Netherlands)

Handwritten letters may be on their way to becoming a thing of the past, but they can be an important window into history, revealing much about the writer – and time and place.

That’s what a historian at Yale is discovering as she examines, what she calls, “a postal treasure trove” – letters from late 17th century that were recently discovered in a trunk in the Netherlands. Reporter Patrick Skahill of Here & Now contributor WNPR has our story.

Reporter

 

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.