I can pay you back with penny stamps

Ann Kemp sent the following 'secret' letter to her father in 1945 while he was at war. She was 12yrs old at the time and clearly had problems budgeting.

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4-12-45
Tuesday.

Dear Daddy

This is just a very secret letter between you and I. I really do not like asking you, but do you think you could afford to send me some money, what ever you can afford. I want to buy Mummy something for Xmas, but as we only get (?) a week pocket money I'm afraid I spend mine. I try hard to keep some, but somehow it goes. If you can Daddy, I will keep sending you penny stamps to pay you back young man, then you can use them can't you. We are very disappointing you will not be home for Xmas but we will still hang a stockingup for you. Father Xmas might leave you something if you are good.

Please do not tell Mummie I have written, else she will be annoyed at me asking you for money, she is in town at this moment.

So I will post this straight away. If you can't send it don't worry.

Lots of Love + Kisses old-pop xxxx

Your Ann.

We ought to take this man now

Charles Monteith, then commissioning editor at publishing Faber & Faber, sent the following note to fellow editor and poet T. S. Eliot in 1957 along with a copy of Ted Hughes' first collection of poetry: The Hawk in the Rain. He also suggested maybe sending Hughes a letter of encouragement. Eliot's response can be seen written in pencil. He went on to sign Ted Hughes to Faber & Faber and Hughes went on to become a world-renowned poet and author of children's fiction. From 1984, up until his death in 1998, he also became British Poet Laureate.

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MR. ELIOT

THE HAWK IN THE RAIN: Ted Hughes

I wonder if you'd like to look at this? I must confess that the name of Ted Hughes was unknown to me until these poems arrived; but - as you'll see from the correspondence - he's a young Englishman whose poems have been published chiefly in America. This book, his first, has won the First Publication Award in a contest sponsored by the New York Poetry Centre and judged by Auden, Spender and Marianne Moore. The quality seems to me very uneven; but I think there's some interesting poetry in the book. Though I don't feel we'd want to take him on yet, he might perhaps have a letter of encouragement. Would it, I wonder, be worth while asking Spender informally for some more information about the Award; and about the judges' assessment of Mr. Hughes' work?

CM.
9.4.57.


I'm inclined to think we ought to take this man now.
Let's discuss him.

(Signed)

I can't spell. I'm very upset

April 1964: The U.S. Department of Labor introduces new rules relating to foreign musicians entering the country, in effect making it more difficult for them to do so unless they can demonstrate a unique talent. The very recent onset of Beatlemania in America, coupled with misleading reports by the American press regarding this issue, results in a deluge of panic-filled letters being sent to Washington by worried teenagers. Below is one such letter. 

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1206 South Jackson
El Dorado, Arkansas
April 3, 1964

U.S. Labor Dept.
Washington D.C.

Gentlemen:

I can only hope and pray this letter will be read. I and three other girls were so upset we couldn't go to school today because of an article in the paper saying the Beatles can not return to the U.S. until the government gives their approval. Maybe the didn't follow the law of immigration clearance order, but you must all agree the teenagers of the U.S. want them back., It's none of my business but they've just got to return soon, please.

I sincerly hope (I can't spell. I'm very upset) you can give me some kind of reply to this letter. Please, if you can, answer if and when they will or won't return.

Very truly yours,

Janelle Blackwell

P.S. This is no laughing matter to me or any other fan of the Beatles. Please reply a letter back to me. This is a business letter and should be treated as such, Mr. Willard Wirtz, sir or whoever is reading this. This letter I know is not in good form of any kind. But I feel terrible.

I'm 15 and I feel like 80.