x, 422 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-401) and index.
Contents
Traditions of inquiry -- Forming selves in letters -- Writing with a purpose : immigrant epistolarity and the culture of emigration -- Using postal systems : transnational networks on the edge of modernity -- Establishing voice, theme, and rhythm -- When correspondence wanes -- Thomas Spencer Niblock : a dialogue of respectability and failure -- Catherine Grayston Bond : letter-writing as the practice of existential accounting -- Mary Ann Wodrow Archbald : longing for her "little isle" from a farm in central New York -- Dr. Thomas Steel : the difficulties of achieving the reunited family.