Featured While emptying recycling, found these letters...

Mom is in a retirement home and I empty her recycling out each week. The recycling is in a closet inside the facility, not a big dumpster. As I'm getting ready to empty Mom's recycling, my eye spots this bundle of letters just about 10 inches down.





Maybe recycled by a relative, etc. Possible that someone passed away.

So far I haven't opened a single one. My closest high school buddy is obsessed with things like this... she even goes crazy for old year books imagining the person's life, etc. and promised we could go through these together next time she visits. (Maybe 6 months from now.)

Realize this is a bit of an invasion of privacy. Certainly if there is anything too personal, back in the recycling it goes. They are wartime letters. Just couldn't leave them.

 

Good for you for rescuing. These things get tossed because someone thinks they've no value/no one will appreciate. You and your friend do. As should everyone -- a part of history.

Debora

 

On a side note I once found some from ww2 and all I'll say is this,that lady and gent had VERY active imaginations ! I was fairly young,and I had some weird idea that people just didnt think like that then.

 

After my mom died, I found some old family letters and learned things I didn't know from reading them. Nothing terribly dramatic, but it did give me new perspective on some family members and situations.

 

NICE find! I'd have rescued those too!

 

I with you Lucille, they need to be saved

 

Guess I'll be the odd one out. . .unless they belong to your family I say they need to go back to the recycling bin.

 

A local historical society would jump all over them. At least around here.

 

All of this reminds me to go through all of my private letters that were intended for my eyes only and DISCARD them .. they are nobodies business but my own ... Joy.

 

That is the 'careful' thing to do, and very honorable, but even state privacy laws don't protect decedents ...e.g., if you are Elvis (and we know he's still alive, right?), the only way to protect his rights is through an ongoing estate... which he has. WWII is fading into the history books, and those with them... so, unless you intend to publish them, there's little 'risk' in saving them.

Not judging, just saying... [and dangerously assuming the letter writers are dead] and U.S. jurisdiction...

 

Ah, I missed that they were from other residents.

In that case, I think I'd try to find out who the residents are and ask them if they'd mind if you gave them a new home.

 

I knew there might be a range of opinions on this and can see both sides. Trust me, I won't share anything I wouldn't want others to see if they were mine. And won't connect anyone's name with anything, that's for sure. Anything intimate, we would probably stop reading and back into recycling it goes.

But would be interested if there was some actual history about the times.

Was even thinking I'd check the stamps in case there is something to be on the look out for in the 1942, 1943 range. There are over 100 stamped letters in there.

They were clearly valued as they were kept all these years, so just kind of sad to see them dumped. Why keep them for 70 years and just dump them? Have to think someone passed away and it was either a relative or maybe even someone hired to do a clean out. I mostly grabbed them because of the WWII connection and my friend is so into imagining the lives of people from years gone by. I texted her with a photo of the newly found letters and she said she would "get on a plane and be here in 6 hours". Was kind of joke, but a bit of an adventure for us to look forward to next time she's visiting.

 

are there US Postal service rules for handling other folks mail ??

 

People buy old filled in postcards, etc. Pretty common to see those at estate sales, antique stores, etc.

 

Ken Burns could not have made a tear jerker Civil War documentary that way... a la Sullivan Ballou letters.

 

good question.
"Under US Code 18 Section 1708, mail theft is defined as taking any piece of mail that is not your own for any purpose. A piece of mail can be any letter, postal card, package, box or bag. Mail theft can result from stealing from private mailboxes, collection boxes, postal workers or mail trucks." I think the loophole is "trash" is not one of them. Good news is, if I'm wrong, it's only a 5 year jail sentence and/or fine

 

Yes, I will definately get to my stored up private letters so that no stranger can race to read them .. even before I have kicked the bucket !! .. EGADS, The very thought sickens me. Joy.

 

Thinking about this more and am on the fence now, leaning towards it's okay to keep the letters if what they contain is kept private.

If the owner of personal letters, or his/her heir, doesn't want anyone to see the letters, I would think they would find a way to shred or burn them. Putting items in a recycling bin pretty much guarantees that someone else can see, read, and take them.

 

I agree... I think that law would only apply to an item in the possession of the USPS or in your mailbox.