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

Published December 18, 2015 at 12:42 PM EST

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.

Read more on the story from WNPR

Reporter

Patrick Skahill, reporter at WNPR. He tweets @ptskahill.

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