Content: extreme heat; harvest of barley and cutting of hay; neighbors hired a young laborer; washing and other chores; 100-year anniversary celebration of the town of Beaver Dam.
SCANS
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TRANSCRIPTION/ TRANSLATION
This is a character-by-character transcription of the original document written in Kurrent. It adheres to the spelling and line-spacing of the original.
- Characters in italics are written in Latin script in the original.
- Characters in square brackets [ ] have been added by the transcribers for better understanding of the text.
- A question mark in square brackets [?] indicates that the transcribers are not sure about the spelling of the preceding word.
English Translation: 1940-07-10
Words written in italics in this translation indicate English words written in Latin script in the original.
CONTEXT
General Delivery
The address of this letter is “Elizabethville, Pennsylvania. General Delivery.”
According to the USPS website, “General Delivery is a mail service for those without a permanent address, often used as a temporary mailing address.” This includes “people who travel extensively,” like Lester, who in the summer of 1941 was biking around the Pennsylvania country side, conducting interviews with Pennsylvania Dutch speakers for his Ph.D. research.
Washing machine
Anna references a washing machine, which she herself, though, needs help with to operate. By the late 1930s, household appliances became more and more common even in the rural corners of Wisconsin. We do not know what kind of washer was in the Seifert household, but here is an advertisement of a popular model from the La Crosse Tribune, September 13, 1940.
