Letter Writers Alliance

The Letters of Martin Luther King, Jr.

On this day of thankful remembrance for the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr., I would like to invite everyone to read the letters available both to and from him at LPreviewetters of Note. I also strongly suggest everyone reads his "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail." Here's a transcription. His words live on and I am thankful for them. -Donovan

World Stamp Show Review

It's been a few months since the World Stamp Show in New York City; the once a decade gathering of the world's philatelic masses. We had some members visit the show and sent us their impressions. Here's a link to a dizzying Vine video of the show. My favorite was this letter from Member Christine. Her sister even made special commemorative stationery for the event. Enclosed in the letter was a card for the U.S.P.S. StampApp for collectors, which, disappointingly, seems pretty miserable from the reviews. Ten bucks for a collecting app without a free section to get people (i.e. kids) into sorting and cataloging their stamps digitally seems a misstep to me. When are they going to hire me as a consultant, right?

She also sent a rad box with pins and artist signed postcards and I'M SO UPSET I COULDN'T GO! Anyway, here's to the World Stamp Show. I'm planning on making it to the one in Boston in 2026!

Adanaland

Long has this posting languished in my drafts folder. I kept meaning to write a glowing, clever, and all-around comprehensive article on the glory of Adanaland. I've been meaning to do so for, judging by the date on this draft, over three years. Adanaland is the work of Alan B. I forget if I found him or he found me, but I'm thrilled to have him as a contributor to my mail box. He's a huge inspiration to the artistamps that I create and he's a champion of small press and mail art. You can see his photos on his Flickr site and the Lestaret blog has an exhaustive series of posts on his works. (That's the post that I think I wanted this to be, but it's been done; so there I will send you.) Thanks for the fantastic mail, Alan. You are a shining example to all members of the L.W.A. and it's a joy to know you.

Craigslist Hook-Ups, Circa 1959

A perennial favorite blog of mine, Forgotten Bookmarks, posted a real gem of epistolary ephemera recently. It's a member card to the Dora Lee Club, which, as far as I can surmise, is a lot like the ads posted on Craigslist or the little blurbs on dating sites. You joined the Chicago-based (!!!) club and got a listing of other "lonely" member names and addresses. I found it all a bit sweet and sad and funny, and, heck, I'll bet there were some people who got some good out of it. At least, I can hope so. It was probably an even trade of horrible to happy if I'm being realistic. (And I almost always am realistic. Check out the video for the book club for Letters to the Lost if you have doubts about my lack of a romantic nature.) You can see excerpts from the list at the Forgotten Bookmarks site.

Zip Code Facts

 

Thanks for the info, Jeremy! I really appreciate that you wrote to me instead of just emailing a link to the story. I wonder if anyone has collected mail from every zip code. 42,000 is a lot of pieces of mail. And maybe one day, maybe when we hit 10,000 members, we'll have a party or a retreat or something. We do think about these things!

Letters from Authors

LWA member Chris from Kansas City shared with us his favorite letters from a project he had where he would send bookmarks to various authors. Some of those authors wrote him back in thanks. When he couldn't locate an address, he would send his letter in care of the author's publisher. He says that British authors were more likely to respond to him than American ones, which I found interesting, but not exactly surprising. 

From Anthony Powell:

From Graham Swift:

From Bailey White:

I love the difference in responses. What an nice project and I'm glad he got some replies. The bookmarks he sent out were rather nice, which I'm certain helped his return rate. Great job, Chris, and thanks for sharing.

I've had a great time writing to my favorite authors as well. If you choose to do so, remember that authors are in the business of writing. I have gotten responses from people years after the original sending. Patience is key. Also, you might not get a response at all and that is okay. If writing was my job (more of my job), I might not want to do it so much in my leisure time.

P.S. Here's Chris's bookmarks. Aren't they nice?

 

P.P.S. Want some? Chris was nice enough to send us an assortment. Simply send a S.A.S.E. to the L.W.A. P.O. Box addressed to "Bookmarks" and I'll be happy to share while supplies last.

Michael Bidner Postcard

Jack at Cascadia Artpost is always sending me incredible things. His latest mailing is a postcard celebrating the work and archive of Michael Bidner. Released as a commemoration for the artist's 70th birthday, the card features a biography, artistamp, cancelation and reproduction of Bidner's original work. Michael Bidner is credited with coining the term "artistamp" and had a collection of over 10,000 stamps at the time of his death in 1989. I thought you, readers and members, would enjoy learning about him and his work; so I've shared the card with you. Enjoy! ~Donovan

Letter Writing for Speech Pathology

We were delighted to receive this letter from Mr. Raj! It is wonderful to hear stories of our members spreading the love of letter writing and also doing really awesome good work as a benefit from it. Here is the link to Mr. Raj's workshop if you are interested. Keep up the good work and keep those kids writing! This is what we like to think the L.W.A. is really all about.

Ben Franklin Post Office

My pen pal and L.W.A. member Joe makes a hobby of sending me postcards with excellent special cancellations. This card and postmark are from the Ben Franklin Post Office in Philadelphia. In addition to everything else he was doing, Ben Franklin was also the first appointed Postmaster General of the United States in 1775. It is fantastic that his original office is still in use today. You can visit it at 316 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106. Take note that because of the large volume of hand-canceling the office does, they stop accepting mail around 3PM. Remember, "Mail Early in the Day"! Depressingly, and despite its obvious benefit to society, the Franklin Post Office is threatened by the cuts to the U.S.P.S. operations budget, but is currently still in operation. Thanks for the card, Joe. I loved learning about the Franklin Post Office because you sent me interesting mail.

~Donovan

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Friends & Faux, Volume 2

I was a happy participant in this artistamp exchange the first time around. Now it's back! Friends and Faux is a way to share and send on artistamps while making an eventual, fully-collaborative art postcard which Sue of TangleCrafts then puts into a zine. There's space on the website to upload images and track the cards while they make their journeys as well. It's really fun. There's a contest too! Everything Sue does is pretty great. I'm constantly impressed by anything she sends me in the mail. Do join in the fun, won't you?