Reconnecting the Old-Fashioned Way

The United States is opening back up, but it will be a long time before things are “normal” again. Over the past several months, the pandemic has changed how people everywhere work, learn, travel, shop, socialize, and communicate. Although we are experiencing some of the same effects of isolation and social disruption as survivors of the 1918 influenza pandemic, we are fortunate that technology now allows many people to work, learn, shop, and socialize from home.

But there’s one method of communication that folks in 1918 used way more often as an alternative to in-person socializing: writing letters. There are hundreds of historical letters and journal entries from the 1918 pandemic that have been digitized, with examples here (Online Archive of California), here (Atlas Obscura), here (Slate), and here (Smithsonian Magazine). And maybe our forebears were on to something. Expressive writing has been shown to have mental health benefits, and writing and receiving letters comes with its own special nostalgia and tangible pleasure.

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Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.  – Unofficial “motto” of the United States Postal Service.                 

If you’ve considered writing letters to family, friends—or even strangers—now is a great time to do it! The USPS has been underfunded (and under attack) for years, despite its incredible importance in our country’s history and its present. The pandemic and a hostile presidential administration have put the U.S. at even greater risk of losing its venerable public institution and tens of thousands of union jobs.

You can help support the USPS in their time of need by buying stamps (“Forever” stamps never lose their first-class mail value!), signing the petition to #SaveThePostOffice, and by joining the U.S. Mail is Not For Sale campaign.

Ways People are Writing to Each Other During the Pandemic

• Connect with Distant Family Members. Laura Bassett (in New York) and her grandmother, Virginia (in Louisiana), have been staying in touch during the pandemic and communicating largely by letter—and largely in rhyming verse.
• Give Love to the Isolated Elderly. People around the world are writing letters to seniors who are isolated in nursing homes. From Salt Lake City to Paris, Texas, to London, U.K. Reach out to senior homes in your community or visit Love For the Elderly, a nonprofit started by a 19-year-old college student to combat social isolation with letters of love.
• Surprise Your Neighbors. When a pandemic keeps you home, you can always reach out to the people closest to you—the ones who live down the street. And if you want to really get in your neighbors’ good graces, you can be like mayor Jeff Lillie who spent an anonymous donor’s $82,000 on gift cards to local businesses which he mailed to every family in his small Iowa town.
• Share Your Wisdom with Future Generations. Although the pandemic has kept Hannah Matthews from meeting her baby niece in person, she has used their physical separation as an opportunity to connect with her niece in writing, sharing experiences and insights for her niece to read when she’s older.
• Thank Your Mail Carrier. Postal workers are essential, and they have been working throughout the pandemic and delivering ALL OF THE THINGS we’ve ordered online while shopping in isolation. Eleven-year-old Emerson Weber wrote a thank-you note to her mailman, and when it went viral, she received letters in return from postal workers all over the country. It’s never too late to thank your mail carrier—and any other essential workers you know!