To The Letter Episode 4: An Interlude with Alice

Episode 4 is here! In this episode, we take a step away from Joe and Agnes’ story to meet one of Agnes’ friends, Alice Gelisle. This is the only letter we have from Alice, but we felt it was so packed with good information we didn’t want to miss it! In her letter, Alice discusses all the facets of her life–working in a factory, playing basketball, rationing, fashion, and going to dances. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Digital Studio. Alice Gelisle was voiced by student Katie Newville. Special thanks to Marcia Lee for joining us!

Alice’s letter is available below:

 

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Letter to Agnes Van Der Weide from Alice Gelisle, sent Jan. 22, 1944

Did you enjoy hearing Alice’s perspective? Let us know! Send questions and comments to rupinskl@gvsu.edu or leave us a review on iTunes! We can’t wait to hear from you!

To the Letter Episode 3: Reading Other People’s Mail

Episode 3 is all about reading other people’s mail. Many thanks to Lynn Heidelbaugh, a curator at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, for speaking to us about the logistics of the postal system in WWII. Lynn is incredibly knowledgeable about all the complexities of how mail and packages traveled overseas, how censorship worked, and the development of Victory mail, or “V-mail”.

If you’re interested in learning more about war and the mail, we highly recommend checking out the National Postal Museum’s latest exhibit-that Lynn worked on!- My Fellow Soldiers: Letters from World War I.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Digital Studio. Joe Olexa is voiced by Kevin McCasland.

Letters featured in Episode 3 are available below:

 

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Letter from Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, Jan. 24, 1944

 

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Letter from Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, March 4, 1944

 

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Letter from Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, March 7, 1944

 

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Letter from Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, March 15, 1944

And as promised, here’s an example of both the full V-Mail sheet and the shrunk down version that would have been what Agnes actually received.

Letter to Agnes, sent Sept. 14, 1943

V-Mail Instructions and envelope on reverse of letter

V-Mail sent to Agnes, Sept. 15, 1943 via V-Mail

The final V-Mail is in black and white and is only a fraction of the size of the original.

Questions about the mail? V-mail? Military dentists? Have thoughts about the broken engagement? Let us know! Send questions and comments to rupinskl@gvsu.edu or leave us a review on iTunes! We can’t wait to hear from you!