All The Gentlemen Callers Letters Found In A 1920's Steamer Trunk [Paperback]

Shortly after completing the recent biography of my Aunt Jessie Pifer, I opened her steamer trunk (the high school graduation gift from her parents in 1924) to have a photograph taken of its fabric-lined interior to be used on the back cover of that book. Years ago when we moved Jessie to an assisted living facility I had not opened the drawers in the trunk because it felt intrusive. A few years later when circumstances compelled me to tell Jessie's story, I chose to keep the trunk closed and positioned so that the purple and gold decal in the shape of a pennant with the word Clarion emblazoned on it could best be viewed, serving as a daily reminder of Jessie's life and what had happened to her. Expecting that the standing trunk would make a charming photograph, I set it upright and opened it, to best display its set of five drawers on the right, integrated metal holding rods with custom-fitted wooden hangers of various shapes on the left, and its build-in cosmetic case on a swivel at the bottom. In opening the bottom drawer to give depth to the view of the trunk's interior I found a dozen letters, tied with a white ribbon, that turned out to be from Jessie's high school and college girl friends. Under that small bundle I discovered a cache of more than 100 letters dating from 1924 to 1938, some tied together, others loose, but all addressed to Jebbie and all from her suitors during that period of her youth.
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Reading letters, particularly love letters, is similar to reading a diary. We are interested and curious, but still hold a certain sense of being intrusive. However, letters are still considered the most personal way to understand the character and personality of an individual and of the zeitgeist in which the letters are written. Placing these particular letters in their historical context of The Roaring Twenties and The Great Depression is particularly poignant in that they arel£$