
Show HN: My father's letters as a diplomatic courier from 1960-66 - will_brown
http://billbrowndearmom.weebly.com
======
will_brown
I built/posted this landing page for my Dad's side project based on this
thread:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10181793](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10181793)

Lots of positive words that I have forwarded to my Dad :)

~~~
lugg
That was... fast!

Read those comments this morning, good on you. Best of luck to you both.

------
ianstormtaylor
Just a thought, in reading the PDF copy that was typewritten, it feels really
nice to see the spelling mistakes, and get a sense for the original form that
the letter took. I worry that in digitizing it loses a lot of the romance of
the stories themselves. It could be really nice to have a book where the
format includes a high resolution scan of the original letter on a white
background, and then a digital copy of the text following it for reading. It
would break up each letter nicely too I imagine, creating a cool rhythm. Just
wouldn't want to lose the interest of the original documents.

~~~
will_brown
The book itself will include digital images of the actual letters, many of
which are on this bizarrely thin onion skin paper. The letters themselves in
some instances contain sketches that get lost in the transcripts as you
suggest. Also included will be digital images of about 50 postcards and modern
pictures of many of the items he bought, which he describes in the letters
(i.e. Indian bronze table/tea kettle, wooding carvings from the Congo, etc...)

~~~
derefr
I believe the onion-skin paper had two advantages for messages intended for
courier transport: it was really light, so more messages could be carried per
courier (this became even more important for air-mailed communications; more
messages per plane!); and it was also, for high-security messages, more easily
folded up and concealed. (You might guess it was more easily destroyed under
threat, too, but it's probably not—onion-skin paper is stronger than it
looks!)

Oddly enough, in the military-fiction book I have on my lap at the moment, one
of the characters has a rolled-up bit of onion-skin paper tucked into a hidden
compartment of their jacket with a set of recent codes and ciphers on it.
Similar idea.

~~~
david-given
Not long ago you could buy special air-mail letters. These were thin blue
paper, with an envelope front printed on one side and a gummed trip on the
other. You'd write your letter on the back, fold them up and stick them down,
and post at reduced rates (because they were guaranteed to be light, having no
enclosures).

I haven't seen one for ages. I hope they haven't vanished completely; they
were a really good idea...

------
kanche
Interesting read

I used to write letters to my grandfather regularly then the telephone came

I wonder how the story will be on a time fast forwarded to 100 years. Perhaps
whatsapp chats on an old phone? Now a days everything we do, we share it on
fb/instagram

------
wglass
He keeps mentioning the various girls he is meeting. Made me curious. Did he
end up marrying overseas? Or was that all just for fun.

~~~
will_brown
He specifically got out of the service because he wanted to settle down and
start a family, and he didn't think it was likely to happen for him with his
schedule at the time. It remains one of the more pivotal decisions of his
life. After the service he relocated to Miami and met my Mom (married with 5
boys).

------
kak9
This is great. I wish it was a more of a thing in our society for people to
keep their letters as well as create oral histories.

------
dastbe
fyi, your letters are marked backwards. the helsinki link takes you to
calcutta and vice versa.

Otherwise, very exciting.

~~~
will_brown
Thanks. I enjoyed letting him know people outside of the family took interest
in his letters...I am not sure he believed me - ha.

~~~
zapperen
Sent it to a few people, and they all love the letters!

