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Hi all: I am a writer and it has occurred to me that we are in danger of losing some of our most valuable sources of military history, namely the letters that soldiers write home from the battlefield. I recently published a collection of war letters from Americans fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and it became apparent then that the vast majority of the "letters home" were in fact, emails... many of which are then lost when the yahoo (or whatever) account is closed or goes dormant after the soldier returns home.
Letters were preserved in shoe boxes and the like for centuries now, many examples can be found in our national archives and in private collections and museums, but the modern soldier does all his communication via cyberspace... I encourage all families to print out and preserve the emails from their loved ones who serve overseas!
I am now writing a book similar to the last, which will be exclusive to the Canadian involvement in Afghanistan, I encourage all soldiers or families to contact me who might be interested in having their letters in the book.
You can see more about me and find a link to contact me at my website duffreysigurdson.com or contact me through the forums.
I would be interested to hear others thoughts on this predicament too... all you historians and archivists out there!
regards, duff sigurdson
Letters were preserved in shoe boxes and the like for centuries now, many examples can be found in our national archives and in private collections and museums, but the modern soldier does all his communication via cyberspace... I encourage all families to print out and preserve the emails from their loved ones who serve overseas!
I am now writing a book similar to the last, which will be exclusive to the Canadian involvement in Afghanistan, I encourage all soldiers or families to contact me who might be interested in having their letters in the book.
You can see more about me and find a link to contact me at my website duffreysigurdson.com or contact me through the forums.
I would be interested to hear others thoughts on this predicament too... all you historians and archivists out there!
regards, duff sigurdson