The academic study of history makes a strong distinction between “primary” and “secondary” sources. While secondary sources are narratives, opinions, or analysis produced after the fact, primary sources are the real artefacts of the time in question: contemporary documents produced by those with direct experience of events.  Primary sources are as close as you can get to experiencing the time during which they’re created; they are snapshots of a few droplets of water rushing along in the ephemeral river of time.  You hope as a historian to be able to view as many of these multi-faceted drops as you can to formulate a theory as to the shape of the river’s path.

I’ve just stumbled upon this blog which features a wonderful varied collection of such sources. Letters of Note “is an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos.” Take a moment to peruse a few of these prismatic pieces of history. Fascinating!

Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience