Texts, e-mail and blogging are just the latest evolution of the old-fashioned letter. A new exhibition, The Art of Letters,
however, celebrates pen and paper and the different styles of writing
for business and personal communications. The Boole Library Archives
Service, UCC together with the University Archives have joined with the
Cork City and County Archives to mount an exhibition of letters drawn
from their collections. On display will be copies of letters
illustrating both the type of information found in archival
collections, and also the changing format and style of letters, papers
and inks.
Letters, be they chatty missives between friends and family or routine
business correspondence form a major part of all archival collections
and along with other records help create an accurate picture of what
life was like in times past. Originally, no envelope was required
and individual pages were folded, franked and secured with sealing wax
before being posted. Recipients paid on delivery so often weren't too
pleased to see the post arrive! In 1840, Rowland Hill reformed the
postal service in Britain and Ireland by introducing postage stamps so
that the sender paid for the postage. As the cost of the stamp became
based on the weight of the letter enterprising writers often wrote
vertically over the existing horizontal lines to pack in as much news
as possible.
The exhibition The Art of Letters - celebrating the art of
letter writing through the ages - will be opened by well-known
journalist and playwright Declan Hassett on 6 September. Members
of the public are welcome to view the exhibition during the month of
September at the Cork City and County Archives premises, Great William
O'Brien Street, Cork. Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 10am-1pm,
2.30-5.00 pm.
The exhibition is being run as part of the Society of Archivists annual
'Archives Awareness Campaign' in which archival repositories across
Ireland mount events to promote public interest in their collections.
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