AUGUST 8, 1933 LA PAIX RODGERS’ FORGE TOWSON, MATYLAND DEAR PIE: I feel very strongly about you doing duty. Would you give me a little more documentation about your reading in French? I am glad you are happy– but I never believe much in happiness. I never believe in misery either. Those are things you …

The best thing about hand-written, or even typed, notes are that they are lasting physical samples of someone that can be kept forever. We enjoyed the piece in Elle Decor this month about legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, who was famous for her ‘pronouncements on all things chic- so it’s not surprising that her in-house …

“Everyone knows something of the lore of Benjamin Franklin,” she said. “He was a spectacle, she was a speck.” Letters written between ‘Benny’ and his sister ‘Jenny’ have been examined, which show that the two had a very close relationship. Women in that period did not often know how to read or write, and it …