i find the rachel letters fascinating, but i have to ask: what do you feel is the purpose or goal of your transcription from handwritten –> typed, and your occasional analysis? is it just personal interest to you, or do you believe these letters can be a representative microcosm of the historical period? and an even bigger question, do these small personal histories have worth in the grand scheme of things?

yeoldenews:

This may be long as I have a lot of feelings, so please bear with me.

To start, the purpose of the typed transcription is mainly for preservation, ease of reference and accessibility.

For preservation: The letters have managed to survive 120 years in extraordinary condition (most of the paper honestly feels brand new) and I don’t plan on doing anything risky with them, but you never know. This way if my house is suddenly washed away in a flood tomorrow the originals may be gone, but the story isn’t completely lost.

If I had the set-up to photograph or scan them all I would be doing that as well, but even then most of the handwriting is too difficult for text recognition programs so hand transcription would likely be necessary anyways.

Having the letters transcribed also means that I have to physically handle them less. The less they’re handled, the better condition they stay in.

For ease of reference and accessibility: There are approx. 800 letters that I have stored in seven different boxes on four different shelves. Finding any given letter is a pain in the butt.

When they’re transcribed I literally just have to type a keyword. It allows me to compare different people’s accounts and opinions. If I want to write something about everyone’s opinions on football, I just type in “football” and go through the results instead of digging through hundreds of letters. Hopefully when this project is done other people will be able to do that too.

As for my “goals” with this project…

Yes this is of personal interest to me (“saving” forgotten history has become something of an obsession of mine over the years), but that’s not my main reason for doing it.

My main reason for undertaking this project is simply that it’s a wonderful story about wonderful people and I believe it deserves to be told.

I do also believe that this particular collection of letters, honestly more than any other collection I’ve ever personally come across, is an exceptional microcosm of this time period.

The honest truth is that most extant 19th century letters are really boring unless you have a particular interest in livestock, produce prices or whose great-aunt’s rheumatism is acting up.

I can’t even begin to tell you how unusual it is to find letters, let alone an intact collection this large, that discuss people’s thoughts and opinions, current events, politics, art, pop-culture, theatre, technology, etc. etc. etc. all with humor, sincerity and wit.

Rachel and her family also occupy a very interesting place in the complex society of the Gilded Age. They are rich but not high society rich, which means that they interact with people throughout the wide spectrum of late Victorian society, from some of the most famous people in modern history (it took me longer than I’d like to admit for it to click that “the governor” Eb was meeting with was Teddy Roosevelt) to rural lumber workers.

To answer your last question:

History is made up of the stories people decided to save.

Some of history’s most vivid characters are only known because of small personal histories.

Would anyone know who Anne Frank was today if her father hadn’t made it his mission to share the story she left behind?

Vivian Maier’s work was completely unknown until someone bought her negatives at an auction a few years ago and decided to share them online. Now her photographs are exhibited around the world, she’s the subject of books and documentaries, and there are some who now consider her one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century.

How many historical figures we view as important today are only remembered because someone made sure they were remembered (or re-remembered)?

How many extraordinary people, how many extraordinary lives, how many
extraordinary stories are forgotten simply because no one decides to to
write them down? How many were written down and then thrown away? Even if they were saved, how many had no one who ever decided to
share them?

Now I’m not saying Rachel is Vivian Maier, and I’m definitely not saying she’s Anne Frank, but obviously her story seems to have struck a chord with people.

There are several “characters” in Rachel & Co. who have no living descendants. No living relations closer than great-great-nieces and nephews. Some of them don’t even have that.

There are some times when I look at one of their letters and think that what if this is all that’s really left of them? What if a few thousand words is all that’s left to tell the story of a fascinating and complex person who lived a full and vivid life? I always think it sounds cheesy and self-righteous when I say I feel I have a “duty” to make sure they’re remembered, but I do.

Whether the stories of Rachel and her cohorts end up having worth in the greater scheme of things I can’t say. But if I can make sure the stories of these fascinating people are remembered for even a little while longer, this whole project will be well worth it to me.

[These were really good questions and I got waaay too serious on that last part. I’m not usually this dramatic, I swear.]