Correct Civil War Soldier Letters

[lukegilly13]

Re: Correct Civil War Soldier Letters

Bringing up an older thread, does anyone know how exactly these envelopes were closed? A modern envelop uses quite a bit of glue, and I'm not just talking on the flap for final closure, but the closure of the back of the envelopes as well. Was the flap triangular on the back or flat/squared off?

[AZReenactor]

Re: Correct Civil War Soldier Letters

To answer quickly, depends on the envelope. There were a large variety of manufacturers and each had individual characteristics. Take a little time to search the net and you can find dozens and dozens of photos of original covers.

[orngblsm]

Re: Correct Civil War Soldier Letters

Luke,

I got into postal ephemera about two years ago and the plethora of originals out there is incredible. I own about 20 period envelopes and they all have a triangular enclosure on the back. I have read about envelopes that had square enclosures, but have never seen an original example. General, everyday mail envelope faces measure roughly 3 1/8" x 5 3/8". I've seen business/document envelopes that are just as large as modern legal sized envelopes are today. And there is always the home made envelope, which was common practice, that come in a variety of sizes and styles.
Envelopes did come gummed as did stamps. You can make your own gumming by mixing two parts white vinegar with one part elmers white glue. That said, all the envelopes I have don't have any gumming on them. Glue, wax seal, back stamping; I've seen examples of all of them being used to close envelopes.

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Correct Civil War Soldier Letters

The Sullivan Press website has an online exhibit of period envelopes, including examples of the closure flap.

http://www.sullivanpress.com/online_museum.htm

[Homespun Ma]

Re: Correct Civil War Soldier Letters

Mott Media has a series of Spencerian Penmanship workbooks if you are interested in learning Spencerian script. They also have McGuffey's 1838 series.

Lauren Ehas

[USSanCom]

I'm glad to see a resurgence of this thread as it's a topic near and dear to my heart.

20 yrs ago when I started doing events there was a merchant who was offering pre-written and custom written letters at various prices. I wrote to them for information and instead got a job offer. I wrote all of their female letters and some of the others. I used my non-dominant hand to write letters from the barely literate, but even that hand grew slightly proficient with practice.

A few years later, my husband and I "adopted" a soldier and started a whole family with him and others in our units. For two years he and I communicated by mail without ever once breaking character including describing modern events in our lives. Before an event I would take the time to learn about the actions of his unit there so that I could set the letter in an appropriate context. He often carried my letters with him at events and would read them aloud around the campfire. Some of my letters were shown with his pack in an article in the old Camp Chase Gazette on how to prepare for the first Red River Campaign event.

I learned Spencerian from a master penman named Michael Sull. He teaches a week-long workshop at a B&B that sits on property that was near Spencer's home. The local library at Geneva-On-The-Lake has some of Spencer's original materials in their collection and they put them on display every fall during the workshop week. Travelling teachers would leave a strip of paper with a single sentence on it or a group of these strips for students to use for practice. They were likely traded among students within a local area to gain more practice. They would make a great addition to a soldier's impression as he practices his handwriting in camp.

As someone mentioned, eBay is a great place to gather samples of period letters and envelopes. You can make a master from a period envelope which you can copy and paste into your own envelopes for future use. Muselage was often used to seal envelopes and is available today, tho' I don't know how the formula compares to the period item. It's not a practical item for a campaign impression, but would be perfect in a garrison or headquarters setting.

When I get ready to write a letter, I give a little thought to what I want the letter to say, then I sit down with some period letters and read them to get the right rhythm in my head. Only then do I try writing my letter. If I'm at home, I may write a draft on regular paper before beginning the real letter. In camp, I just wing it. Over time it will become easy.

Now for the links to the good stuff.
This is a link to my webshots files. Spencerian Handwriting 007 are all letters from Michael Sull's personal collection which he brought for me to study during our workshop week. (Side note: Mr Sull and most modern master penmen teach Spencerian using an oblique pen which was almost never used in the 1860's.) The album Civil War Memory Book is scans I've made of a scrapbook and autograph book from my personal collection which was made by an unidentified young woman. The front half of the book contains newspaper items which she has cut out and pasted into the book. The back half of the book contains a couple items from friends and then what I think are her own additions of inspirational writing. There are a number of ornate letter forms used in this albums so it was an excellent resource for creating differing letters. I find her choice of newspaper items to collect quite interesting, too.

The following websites have scans of old penmanship manuals which you can use to study Spencerian. This includes both formal Spencerian, ladies hand, and business hands.
IAMPETH - This is the International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting.

http://www.iampeth.com

http://www.zanerian.com is devoted to the Zanerian style of ornamental penmanship. Spencerian was taught at the Zanerian College in Columbus, O. where many a clerk learned to write.

http://www.theelegantpen.com is a couple folks who run a calligraphy business but have an avid interest in the study of Spencerian. They have a number of the penmanship manuals on their site as well. I haven't checked lately, but they were selling cd's with the scanned books on them through this site.

There is a Yahoo! Group called Ornamental Penmanship where most of the master penmen left in the world maintain a presence. Folks there are more than happy to help you with your efforts to master Spencerian. There is another groups called Spencerian, but it is all but defunct. I think all of those people are members of the OP group anyway.

One of the English gentlemen in the OP group was even successful a few years ago at getting a European company to create a reproduction of one of the finest nibs for Spencerian and other pointed pen work. These nibs can be purchased at John Neal Booksellers’ website. Original nibs were becoming scarce and quite pricey.

This same man has found a paper from a Scottish Company which is excellent for Spencerian and very suitable for period letters. The paper is called Character White and is also available through JNB. The envelopes are a modern style and unsuitable, but you can use the method I mentioned above to create period envelopes. The important trait of this paper is that it doesn’t absorb the ink and let it bleed all over the way most modern cotton and linen papers do. Period papers had more clay in their makeup, so they were smoother and didn’t allow the ink to soak in and become an illegible blob.

I’m unaware of any truly appropriate nib holders on the market today. The glass pens are completely wrong. Oblique holders are wrong. There are some wooden holders available, but they are clubby. Most of the later period holders were larger and more ornate. There are quills available, but I’ve not used many of them so I can’t speak as to how well they’ve been prepared. The biggest issue with a nib holder is that the metal portion that actually holds the nib has to be of the correct size and shape for the intended nib. Anyone can take some sandpaper and elbow grease and sand down the clubby wooden holders to make something more appropriate for the average soldier’s use.

Colonial Williamsburg sells a powdered oak gall ink which can be mixed with a little water in a tin and used for letter writing. It needs a little time to set up before the ink is really ready for writing. At first, it will just look grey. After it has time to cure in the air a bit, it will become a deep black. Over many years, it will oxidize to the brown which we see on the original letters today. John Neal Booksellers also sells a premixed oak gall ink for use in an ink well. I don’t recall the manufacturer’s name. Please remember to rinse/clean your nibs well after using these inks as they are highly corrosive.

As an aside, if you happen to have a container of this ink dumped into your lap as I did many years ago, you can use Oxyclean and some color absorber sheets to remove most of it from your expensive clothing if it’s washable, but for the most part you have a permanent stain with which to contend. Consider overdying the item or working it into your impression from now on.

I hope this information is found helpful.

Duchess Martin,
U.S. Sanitary Commission,
Columbus, O. Branch.

[Johann Van De Leeuw]

Re: Correct Civil War Soldier Letters

Much thanks to everyone who has posted on this subject. I have been curious about this for awhile. I have a question about period pencils; two in fact. 1) What do period pencils look like, and what are their dimensions? 2) Does anyone know of a seller of period pencils?
Many thanks,
Johann Van De Leeuw
Pvt. 4th Vir. Inf.
Deo Vindice
Buaidh No Bas
Soli Deo Gloria

[ArtilleryNick]

Re: Correct Civil War Soldier Letters

I'd recommend checking out Sullivan Press. There's a great amount of information there, as well as some nice little books, including one on letter writting.