017 - You've Got Mail

A look at vintage correspondence; letters and postcards from WWII, tourists, locals, and a famous ADK character.

Transcript

You’ve Got Mail

Preview Segment 

In today’s society, we are used to communicating very quickly. Email, texts, cell phones, Zoom, Google, Instagram. It’s a long list. In the past the pace was slower. Communication over distances relied on what we now call ‘snail mail’. Letters, postcards, things like that went through the postal system. Of course we still have a postal system and people mail each other things all the time. Before telephone and telegraph that was the only way to receive communication from people far away.

This episode is all about people communicating with other people through the postal system. Listen in because you’ve got mail!

TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast Intro - Ready to earn some extra credit? You are listening to ADKX-tra Credit, a podcast for students about the history of the Adirondack Mountains and the people that have lived, worked, and played here. The Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, is located in the heart of the Adirondack Park of New York State. 

CONTENT

People write messages to each other for all sorts of reasons. Let’s start with the shortest form of letter that most of us are familiar with; the postcard. They are short by necessity because the standard size of a postcard is 3 ½ by 5 inches.. The front is taken up with the picture and the back is divided in half. One half is for the address of the person to whom the card is sent. That leaves only a square about 3” by 3” to write. That’s not much room to tell someone what a great time you're having on vacation!

Our example is from Noah John Rondeau, a man that became pretty famous in the early 1900s as an Adirondack hermit. We will have a future podcast all about Noah John. But, in a nutshell he was a hermit that wasn’t much like a hermit. Hermits are usually people that like to live alone and not have much to do with other people. Noah, however, was pretty sociable. Here’s a postcard he wrote to a friend to tell her a bit about his life. 

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To Miss Marion Klebert, Elmira NY. September 13th, 1950

Part time I’m the hermit and part time I’m Santa Claus at Santa Claus City, North Pole NY. Noah John Rondeau Adirondack Hermit.

Short and to the point. The front of this postcard has a photo of Santa’s Workshop, a theme park in North Pole, NY that is still in business. 

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You may be asking yourself “why does a museum keep peoples postcards and letters?” The answer is that these are wonderful primary resources. First person accounts of history. They give a view into a moment in time in the words of someone who lived that moment. 

The second example is a first person account of the very first hike by white residents up Mt. Colden. The letter writer was Robert Clarke. He worked at a mining operation that was owned by his family. Our first example was two sentences. This example comes from a letter Robert wrote to his mother that was twelve pages long. We won’t read the entire thing or you will be listening to this podcast until your ears hurt. 

Here's his description of reaching the peak of the mountain. This was written August 17th, 1850

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When not far from the top a large eagle rose from it & soared away. The noble bird did look beautiful. She must have had her nest somewhere about, but we were too tired to look for it. I was astonished at the difference of the vegetation as we got nearer the top. The tall & strait spruces and balsams below gradually gave way to those about halfway up the mountain which were not half the size & at the top there were nothing but scrubby spruces not more than 5 feet high, a majority not 2 ½ feet…

The view from here is the grandest sight I ever saw. You can see for upwards of 50 miles on every side, almost all unbroken wilderness, spotted over with lakes and two or three settlements. I cannot attempt a description of it, for I know I would fail far of the mark.

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A well written letter can convey the emotion that the writer felt during the event. Robert Clarke’s words share his awe at the beauty he experienced. His long letter provides tons of information about the climb and about his life and work. Information that we would not have regarding that place and period in time if he were not such a good lson writing long, newsy letters to his mother. 

This next example is a portion of a letter from Dr. C.S. Beals to his daughter, Frederica. He is telling her about the fire he witnessed that destroyed most of the town of Raquette Lake in 1927. The feelings he expresses are quite different from what Robert Clarke shared.

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February 22, 1927

Dear Fred, 

...Your letter came tonight and you evidently had not learned that on Sunday most of so -called Raquette burned.

Nearly everyone was at church when it is said that Frank Newtown discovered the rear of the store afire. Those in the church were notified and came at once. Dan Lynn and others tried to get the fire extinguishers from the post office but the smoke was so thick that they could not get them and the glass was cracking in the partition. Then the telephone office was so bad that they couldn’t get in there to save a thing. The wind blew a gale from the east. Katharine ran home and told me to go down and see if I could help and without waiting for MD I pulled on my galoshes and when I arrived there the store was a mass of flames so rapidly did the store burn. The steamboats caught, then the hotel, the cottages in turn, the casino and barn. At this time the fire truck from Inlet managed to reach here, and in a few minutes had streams going, saving the store houses, the laundry and ice house and coolers. The big garage caught and was badly gutted before they succeeded in putting that fire out.

Of course, those living over the store lost everything they had. Mr. Dillon was alone with the two small children and went down to get a fire extinguisher leaving them. When they went upstairs, the few minutes that they had was taken with hunting for the baby. They could hear him, but the smoke hid him, but they found him beneath the table. Then it was too late to save even the currency in the rooms. 

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I’ve talked a lot about letters to friends and family. These are valuable keepsakes and wonderful sources of information.

 But, of course there are messages that need to be written about business concerns as well. You may be writing to enquire about a product or service. Or maybe to complain. You may be providing information, applying for a job, or making a suggestion. 

Our next letter is a great example of one businessperson responding to a letter from another business person. Mr. CA O’Hara received a shipment that was not in good condition. He has ‘made a claim’, which means he asked for his money back or to have the order replaced. This letter is Mr, Maurice Callahan's response. I like this letter because the first part of Mr. Callahan’s response is an average business letter. He tells the reader what he is talking about and that he is going to give him his money back. But, then he goes on and kind of says “Hey, you lucked out that my assistant remembered this shipment. Next time tell your workers not to sign for damaged goods!” Reading it you can really get a good feel about his personality.

TRANSITION - another voice

Old Forge NY February 12, 1910

Dear Sir,

I have your favor of the 9th in regard to the shipment of lard. I had the matter under investigation at the time I wrote you first, and the facts as I have gathered them indicate that your statement as to the condition of this shipment is correct, and I have forwarded the papers to Mr. RL Calkins, Freight Claim Agent, Grand Central Station, New York with authority to adjust the claims with you, and charge the total amount to the Fulton Navigation Company. 

I would suggest, however, that it would be well to instruct your men to be careful about signing for shipments in bad order unless it is written on the bill by our agent or purser, because, unless it is shown to the contrary, we shall have to stand by our records. We do not want to take advantage of any one, and have had to pay money when our men acted incompetent(ly) in handling a situation. However, in this case, the Asst. Supt. recollects the occurrence, and I want to make the adjustment.

Yours Truly,

Maurice Callahan, Superintendent

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The last sample I want to share with you is from what we refer to as the Moaner Letters. The Moaner was a weekly newsletter for Tupper Lake military service personnel. It was printed and mailed to people serving in WWII from 1943-1945. Many of those soldiers wrote back to the writers and publishers of the Moaner; Leonard “Len” Perry, Lawrence Quin, and Father Edmund Dumas. 

As I create this episode,The Adirondack Experience is about to open for the 2021 season. A featured exhibit this season is titled From Wilderness to Warfront: The Adirondacks and WWII. If you are able to visit us this season, don’t miss that exhibition. It’s devoted to the men and women of the Adirondack region that bravely served at home and abroad during WWII. Here are parts of a few letters from three servicemen missing home and familiar things while serving a tour of duty.

TRANSITION - another voice

South Pacific, Wednesday, February 21, 1945

Hello Len,

This is just a few lines to let you know I’ve been receiving the moaner and that I really enjoy reading it. I keep looking forward to the day I will be able to return to good old Tupper. I miss the old bunch of boys I used to go to school with, sure wish I could run into some of them out here. 

February 21, 1945 Fort Dix, New Jersey

Dear Len,

The army’s alright but I’d much rather be a civilian playing basketball.

All the rest of the fellows have shipped out and I’m still in this desolated part of the world.

February 24, 1945 Saturday

Dear Len,

Finally found some time to send you my new address. I’ve been here a month and finally got tired of waiting for the Moaner to go through Nebraska. I look forward to that little bit of gossip and news every week. 

I’ve almost finished my first place of R.T.U. training. Just two more months and I’ll be ready to take a nice long trip.

I’m being taught everything from paralleling generators to giving a plasma transfusion. If I took as much interest in my high school classes as I do this I would have been a model pupil. I’ve really got to learn this stuff or it will be my neck. And I want this neck of mine to walk into the Altamont after this mess is over.

I’ve had three flights in the 29 so far and expect to go up this afternoon. The mission lasts about seven hours and I’m usually ready for the sack when I hit the ground. My position is about as comfortable as the living room sofa but it gets mighty tiresome. 

I’m going to cut this note short. I hope you get a few trophies this year.

As ever, Brainard

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That’s just a few samples of the correspondence that the Adirondack Experience has in our collection. Every little town and hamlet in the region had a post office and now you know why. People love communicating. 

If you would like to communicate with us at ADKX-tra Credit we would love to hear from you. For snail mail write to School Programs, PO Box 99, Blue Mt. Lake NY 12812. To send a letter electronically write to education@theadkx.org.

TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast conclusion - Thank you for joining us for an episode of ADKX-tra Credit. This podcast is brought to you by Adirondack Experience, the museum on Blue Mountain Lake. Our mission is to expand understanding of Adirondack history and the relationship between people and the Adirondack wilderness, fostering informed choices for the future. If you want to learn more fun Adirondack history visit our website theadkx.org