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great sites for letter writers

causes: letters for the common good etiquette & how-to healing and health
mail art pen pals reading about writing
reading other people's mail stamps: real and imagined war letters

the absolute, most comprehensive site

 Letters, Letter-writing and Other Intimate Discourse by Wendy Russ

causes: letters for the common good

in2books  Volunteer to be a pen pal to an elementary school student. You're asked to read and discuss certain books with your pen pal.

Minnesota Teen Supports Troops with Letter-Writing Campaign

My Soldier     Enroll in the My Soldier program and adopt a soldier. The program is free, you get goodies like a MY SOLDIER bracelet and the website states that 80% of the soldiers write back.

 St. Jude's Ranch for Children     St. Jude's Ranch for Children is nationally recognized and has cared for abused, abandoned and neglected children of all races and faiths for over 35 years.  They try to teach the children not to be dependent on welfare through 'learn to earn' programs such as the Recycled Card Program.


 TUBFRIM     Save and donate your used postage stamps to help handicapped children in Norway.  The official site is here if you'd like to read it but sending your stamps directly to Norway will be more costly than sending them to an address within the continental United States.  Some Sons of Norway lodges collect the stamps locally and forward them to Norway; here is a map that you can use to find a lodge close to you.

etiquette & how-to

Emily Post on Longer Letters     From 1922, Emily Post's advice on longer letters.  From how to begin and end letters to LETTERS NO ONE CARES TO READ to PROPER LETTERS OF LOVE AND ATTRACTION.  Enjoy.

 Etiquette: Specialized Stationery     A couple of years ago Hermenaut's Joshua Glenn wrote a number of advice columns on Idler Etiquette for Great Britain's Idler magazine. Here is a mini-series he did on the subject of cards: apology, personal, and calling.  The one on apology cards is adorable.

 How to Write a Love Letter     Love Letters 101

 Send yourself a letter...     Here's a site that offers to store an e-mail that you write to yourself and deliver it at a later date. Are you one of those people that make five-year plans? Here's the perfect way to make sure that you don't forget your goals and aspirations.

 healing and health

so there     It’s about closure. ‘From first loves to last goodbyes, So There is your chance to get it off your chest.’

mail art

 Arts & Letters

Circle Journey     Share a special correspondence with a friend using a Circle Journey correspondence kit.  Send your greetings back and forth in a beautiful booklet and you'll have a keepsake that will last a lifetime.  Circle Journey kits make great gifts and the site is full of inspirational stories and beautiful pictures.

The envelope is the museum.     This is an electronic museum -- the electronic museum of mail art.  It's full of very serious mail art studies and history as well as a great gallery of mail art.

Griffin and Sabine     Nick Bantock's site featuring the extraordinary correspondence of Griffin and Sabine.

the illuminated letter: a lost art reclaimed     This is a beautiful site that wants us not only to write letters, but to make them beautiful.  I love the advice: Slow down, write more letters, and learn to love your mailman. 

mailart:   the largest underground artistic phenomenon of the twentieth century.

mailart received by polar post

P22 Mail Art     A correspondence between Daniel Farrell and Richard Kegler in which a lot of very odd things were mailed.

Pushing the Envelope   An article about mail art.

Shouting at the Postman

pen pals

The Letter Exchange (LEX)  Numerous categories of correspondence listings, free forwarding, plus articles, cartoons, and more. Published 3 times a year.

        855 Village Center Drive #324, North Oaks, MN  55127-3016

 Inky Trail News   Tabloid sized newsletter full of pen pal ads, birthday twins & stories.  Published 6 times a year. Free electronic version also available.

        50416 Schoenherr Road #111, Shelby Twp., MI  48315

 Shirley’s Newsletter  Pen pal ads, drawings, recipes, stories, poetry. Published monthly.  1085 Wainwright Rd. S.E., New Philadelphia, OH  44663

 Handicapped Friends Pen Pal Club  Non-profit club geared for the disabled or other interested readers.  Member summaries, helpful articles. Published quarterly.

        c/o Jeanne Powers, P.O. Box 623 Dept: JW, Cottage Grove, OR 97424-0027

 Country Comfort Newsletter  email: CountryComfort4U@aol.com  A taste of country living with recipes, tips, crafts, much more. Publish 10 issues per year.

        Rd #4, Box 109-E, Bruceton Mills, WV  26525

 Christian Pen Pal Newsletter   Drawings, swaps, round robins, recipes, more. Publish 6 issues per year.  P.O. Box 401, Union, MS  39365-0401

reading about writing

All Mum's Letters     Enjoy this bit of reminiscing.

Be a Man (or Woman) of Letters     Nick Bantock, author of the Griffin and Sabine series, on letter writing.  Very nice.

Rich writes a letter a day to celebrities, politicians, even Just Write and posts it on his site.

Dying Art of Personal Correspondence on Paper Will Pose Serious Problems for Future Historians   Do your part to preserve history.

 Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter Writing by Charles Dodson     Lewis Carroll was a pseudonym for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, mathematician, 1832-1898.

 The Lost Art of Letter Writing     I long to receive a three page, heart-rending, soppy letter, filled with words carefully chosen and eternal.

Mailboxes     Tim Morris, poor man, does not get much mail. He has a lot to say about mailboxes, though.

Real Mail Deal     A letter from a Washington Post Staff Writer to the Post Master General:  "The U.S. mail is not really about speed. It's not even about certainty. It's about history and mystery and letters of love."

Russian National Postal Service   A Russian play about a man who survives by writing letters to world figures.

Sailors Enjoy Lost Art of Letter Writing     From the Navy Newsstand, read about the sailors aboard the USS Kitty Hawk.

reading other people's mail

Famous Love Letters

Felix's Clubhouse     Letters from Felix is a wonderful children's book about a rabbit that gets lost at an airport as his family is returning home from their summer vacation. Felix's owner soon learns that he is fine and having many travels and adventures. How? Felix sends letters and postcards.

Fiction in the Form of Diaries & Letters     Here's a list of books that you'll enjoy reading when you don't have letters of your own to keep you company.

Rivertrout.com     A library of letters dedicated to bringing art to the web by giving an old craft a new meaning: the writing of literary, beautifully-worded letters enhanced by powerful images, great design and the ubiquity and interaction of the Internet.

so there     It’s about closure. ‘From first loves to last goodbyes, So There is your chance to get it off your chest.’

Writers of Letters — Children's Fiction     This is a list of books for children that are either written in letter form or are about mail and letters.

stamps: real and imagined

American Philatelic Society 

Art Gone Postal     Some of these faux postage stamps are a bit much but they’re very well done and worth a look.

Dale's Online Course in Philately

Dear Mr. Postmaster General   Have you ever wanted to suggest a subject for a postage stamp? Here are the guidelines and directions.

Early United States Domestic Postal Rates

LINNS.com   The website of the world's largest weekly stamp newsletter.

Murph's Stamps   Even if you're not a stamp collector, it's fun to order a mixed lot of stamps from Murph and use them for mailing letters.

National Postal Museum This museum is part of the Smithsonian Institute and home of Owney the Postal Dog.

Semipostal Stamp Program   These are fundraising stamps: stamps with a cause.

STAMP-IT-OUT   This is a really cool site where you can upload a picture and see a sheet of stamps featuring your picture.

Stamp Release Dates   With this USPS site, you'll know what mornings you have to show up at the Post Office at opening for great new stamps.

Stamps with a Story     The stories behind the selection of some of the art that’s been chosen by the USPS on stamps.

wordIQ.com   The definition of Postage Stamps and the postal history of the United States.

war letters

American Civil War Letters

 The Legacy Project     Help collect and preserve war letters from the past.

 Letters from an Iowa Soldier During the Civil War

Love Letters of the Civil War

Private Art: World War II Letters This is a fabulously visual site that has won many awards. Don’t miss it.

War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars    Featuring Approximately 200 Previously Unpublished Letters from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Somalia and Bosnia.

War Letters: The Film & More

Wisconsin War Letter from the Gulf War     The letters are shown in a timeline, which adds to the interest.

World War I Letters