IT WOULD BE impossible to immerse ourselves in our heroine, Jennie’s, daily life without touching on the vast importance of what came and went by post. In a country philosophically and geographically divided by civil war, the fragile links of correspondence meant everything. We could only imagine how Jennie yearned for word from and about her brother, her cousin, and her fiancé. Words on a tattered page were the closest she could get to her absent loved ones.

We gave those words an extra measure of worth by capturing the particular handwriting and personal style of the individual writers. Although we have carefully tucked the original letters into Jennie’s scrapbook, we have also transcribed them herewith.

Tobias Lovell to his sister, Jennie

Father Nicholas O’Brien to Henry Pritchett

William Pritchett to Jennie Lovell, April 10th

Will to Jennie, May 4th

Will to Jennie, May 6th

Will to Jennie, June 3rd

Photographer Heinrich Geist to Jennie Lovell

To Jennie, delivered by Nathaniel Dearborn