The Letter-Writer’s
Manual
For Every Occasion
By
E. A. Foley

We wrote about stacks of stuff yesterday, since one of those stacks turned up a long-ago letter, neatly written in precise cursive script. A pal saw it and marveled at the craftsmanship in that social discipline, one that many shared nearly a hundred years ago. It was a product of a shared skill taught then in Public Schools. In the same stack then appeared another blast of technical evolution contained at the bottom of that cardboard container. Along with a small cargo of Stink Bugs who happily lived with it in the garage-office building at Refuge Farm.

At first glance we thought it must have been Mom’s, since that is the way she did things. On a typewriter. I shared that skill, since somehow she managed to enroll me in a summer school course called “typewriting.” We learned to make our fingers dance on keys that mechanically activated long slender striking bits of metal, all of them with tiny figures at the end that struck sheets of paper wound around a back tube of hard adamant rubber.

You could do all sorts of things with it, since it had a knob of harder plastic at the end for the turning part and a lever of chrome-plated steel that enabled the carriage to move beneath striking keys slightly from right to left. In so doing, readable things could be constructed on the keys organized in QWERTY order. We were taught to manipulate all of this with some speed and accuracy. We emphasize the “accuracy,” word, since the whole process was done through actual ink on legitimate paper. The Manual is done with precision, like the curvise script n Dad’s letter from 1944.

We note on this Eve of a new Year about the girls and boys who created these things that now come in stacks of other papers. Corrections had to be done on them with a rubber eraser and another separate pen, often done on a cover sheet sandwich onto a carbon paper that produced a muddled mess on yet another sheet of paper. The one saved for a record of submission, just in case.

What we found in this one included a little artistic flair on the cover, with tiny simulated envelopes surrounding the title of the tome. The small adornments were clearly creative, and a look inside the thin booklet showed what it had actually been in a Public School environment as a sort of term-paper project. It is not dated, so that required some research. We assumed the Author had been our Mom, Betty Ann Foley, but of course we were wrong. It was another woman from Mom’s family of three lovely young women. They were raised in a little river town in Ohio, a place the railroad and river boats called. Their Dad was a railroad engineer, a Doughboy and athlete of some minor renown. His picture was still on the wall of the High School the last time we were in that little place. Presumably gone now.

The Manual solved the mystery and opened several others. Why had the railroad man and his lively wife used the same name for two of the three daughters? But that fell away as we read what a high school student thought was proper in terms of communication. It is detailed in a way things are no longer done. It covers formal and informal means of letter-writing in the broader general categories of “social” and “business” communications. Format for each was a specific mode. Circumstances, including condolence and congratualations are included. Here is an exchange dated 1939:

P.1

THE LETTER-WRITER’S
MANUAL
FOR EVERY OCCASION

For anyone who seeks a useable, convenient, and practical reference book in writing letters for any
and every occasion.

By
Elizabeth Anne Foley, I.

FOLEY PUBLISHING COMPANY
Situated in Bellaire, Ohio
P.3:
INTRODUCTION

” For some time the students in English Classes have had to devote a great deal of time each year to letter writing. Also,
people outside of school find it very difficult to follow the right procedure in writing business or social letters.  Therefore, the author of this book has attempted to fulfill popular demand and put the various kinds of letters into a book where they can be easily
referred to. The indented form is usually used in Friendly letters. Anything in the heading may be omitted except the date.”

There are short examples from the major social-formal-informal and business. One that appealed to the staff was this one, a note in Chapter 3 as a 1939 means of expressing thanks for an overnight stay:

Bread and Butter Notes

Upon arriving home a guest who has stayed over night should always write his host or hostess and express his thanks for their hospitality. Example:

4139 Indiana Run
Clayville, Iowa
Nov. 15, 1939
Dear Mrs. Caroway:

It was very kind of you to ask me to spend the past two weeks with Louise. Two weeks by the lake is a very agreeable change for one who has always lived on the prairies.

I certainly had a very enjoyable time and the two weeks passed all too swiftly. Mother hopes that you will allow Louise to come out and visit us next Christmas vacation. I’m sure Louise will find Iowa as interesting as I found Ohio.

Please give my best regards to Mr. Caroway.

Cordially yours,

Marion Templon

We looked at that one for a while. Aunt Liz specified that all names used had been changed, so Marion is in no jeopardy. But as the new year looms this very night, we thought this was useful. We thank you for spending the last few weeks in your in-basket. It was very kind of you and we had a very enjoyable time. It has all passed too swiftly, you know? We hope you will allow us to visit the “unread” section of your e-mail server next Christmas. We hope you will find it as interesting as either Iowa or Ohio. Our very best to Mr. Caroway, if you see him!

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