Acquiring epistolary literacy in nineteenth-century New England

Tieken-Boon van Ostade, Ingrid

Planned object

Title: Acquiring epistolary literacy in nineteenth-century New England

Abstract:

The concept of “epistolary literacy”, or the skill of letter writing, was first applied by Susan Whyman in The Pen and the People (2009) when analysing the letters of English families from the period 1660-1800. The present study applies the concept to nineteenthcentury New England, and presents five case studies of families from different socioeconomic backgrounds in order to study the question of how they acquired epistolary literacy. Since letter writing was not taught in schools, this paper investigates other means that were available to people eager to communicate with distant relatives and friends. Three possibilities are explored: the use of letter-writing manuals, the example of letters received, and practicing the skill through letter writing itself. The various skills identified in the letter collections, linguistic as well as epistolary, collocate with the families’ different socio-economic backgrounds. While the most highly placed family could draw on a teacher-caretaker’s efforts to assist their children in communicating with their parents, the family at the lowest end of the social scale struggled with the need to acquire sufficient epistolary literacy to be able to stay in touch. One of the families, whose main proponent emigrated to Peru and lost his native language in the process, shows how their Spanish-speaking descendants used letter writing with American relatives both to acquire this skill, and to regain a command of English.