Lives in Letters, an ITP endeavor

In 1945, letters mattered more. When transportation was slower and more expensive, and telecommunications were less reliable, human correspondence relied on postage and matter moving across time and space. Add to these general concerns the pressures of war, the translocating force of armed troops. Levels of language and time unfold in the daily letters written between a Jewish couple at the outset of their marriage, 26 year old Lenore Karlin, Women’s Army Corps (WAC) volunteer and new mother, and 27 year old Harold Karlin, an army doctor stationed in Germany. What is the best way to present this archive? What stories of war, systems of language, and concerns of culture exist in the months they wrote? By creating a way to distribute these contents that simulates the materiality and temporality of this exchange, I present a wartime experience of correspondence.The digital edition, Lives in Letters, represents the work I have done toward the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate. Of the over 500 letters my grandparents exchanged during my grandfather’s deployment as a chief medical officer for the US Army from 1943 to 1945, I transcribed and compiled a pilot collection of ten letters and envelopes. These letters may be read as the events occurred chronologically or as my grandmother received them. By displaying the letters in two orders, I aim to demonstrate the how time and news operated differently when post was the primary means of communication. Delays happened. People had to piece together details across months and miles. Much of the project was dedicated to choosing a platform that would allow these two paths in a straightforward, easy to read manner. Through my investigations of Omeka, WordPress, and Jekyll, I discovered that what I wanted most to represent was the information lag in time. I wanted to see how they sent and received stories of war through their communication. My edition aims to distribute these contents in a way that simulates the temporality of this exchange to investigate the wartime experience of correspondence.

Thanks

I have sought, and will continue to seek, support from my amazing ITP cohort, Stephen Zweibel, Patrick Smyth, ITP faculty Maura Smale, Michael Mandiberg and Lisa Brundage, as well as invaluable consultation concerning digital editions from Matt Gold.