Updated finding aids

Apologies for not posting in so long. As I recently popped in and said, things are changing and my time is very limited. It won’t be too much longer before I get back on track.

I spent a little time today going through some additional materials I found and filing them accordingly. As a result, I do have an updated Pittman, Dickens, Thomas, Yarborough aid, and I have created two new ones: Smith, Strickland, Ratcliffe, Benfield is finally up, and I have started one for my in-law family, Jones, Cindrich.

Excited to get back to this project…

A separate, mini-project…

I wanted to curate a separate collection of the letters to/from my grandmother. She was my pen-pal for my whole childhood and early adult life. Some of the letters I wrote her when I was younger are really embarrassing to read today, but I put them in the collection nonetheless. She gave them all to me a few years before she passed away. She wanted to scrapbook them, but she never really got that into scrapbooking. (I did, for a while there, but I never wanted to use glue on these letters!)

I made a virtual album. I finished it in early February, just in time for her birthday (February 9th). And today, March 7, is the fourth anniversary of her passing. Time flies. I still have a hard time believing she’s gone, sometimes…

Merry T. Pittman ("GrandMerry"), left. Joy Jones (Myself), midde. Dorothy Margaret Ratcliffe Smith ("Granny"), right. 2006, Joy's Bridal Shower.
Merry T. Pittman (“GrandMerry”), left. Joy Jones (Myself), midde. Dorothy Margaret Ratcliffe Smith (“Granny”), right.
2006, Joy’s Bridal Shower.

Today’s post is (hesitantly) a link to the letter album:

Dear Granny…

1943 Postcard from Lawrence Kruse Thomas to Mary Emma Yarborough Thomas: Railroad at 17 Points, Western NC

Postcard: Railroad at 17 Points, Western NCFrom the papers of Merry T. Pittman
Postcard: Railroad at 17 Points, Western NC
From the papers of Merry T. Pittman
Back of Postcard
Back of Postcard: Railroad at 17 Points, Western NC
From the papers of Merry T. Pittman

Hello Mom,
Having a nice time, things are not on the level up here, mighty hilly and billy.
Love, Lawrence