Looking for scholarly/historical writing about love letters

by acuster25

Greetings all,

I'm an undergrad student, and for the final project of my American History class I am collecting love letters from the American antebellum period.

I have not had more trouble than I expected finding actual letters; however, finding scholarly writing about the history of love letters has proven somewhat difficult. I am wondering if anyone might be able to point me in the right direction, or may even know of a specific source/book/article they'd recommend? Many thanks.

Also, I recognize that love letters may be too narrow of a topic to find an entire book on. Thus, broader topics like courtship and letter-writing should probably suffice. Again, I appreciate any advice and direction you have to offer.

Edit: in the case that some future student stumbles across this post during their own search for writings on love letters, I'd like to share my findings:

Eustace, Nicole. “’The Cornerstone Of a Copious Work’: Love and Power in Eighteenth-Century Courtship.” Journal of Social History 34.3 (2001): 517. America: History & Life. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.

Lystra, Karen. Searching The Heart: Women, Men, and Romantic Love in Nineteenth-Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Print.

Rothman, Ellen K. Hands And Hearts: A History of Courtship in America. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1984. Print.

Waterman, Bryan. “Coquetry And Correspondence in Revolutionary-Era Connecticut: Reading Elizabeth Whitman’s Letters.” Early American Literature 46.3 (2011): 541-563. America: History & Life. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.

TheShowIsNotTheShow

There are a couple of book chapters that may be salient to your interests:

  • In David M Henkin, The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America (Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2006). Part II: Postal Intimacy including Chapters 4, "Embracing Opportunity: The Construction of the Personal Letter"; 5, "Precious as Gold: Mobility and Family in the Gold Rush and Civil War"; and 6 "Mass Mailings: Valentines, Junk Mail, and Dead Letters"
  • Drew Gilpin Faust, Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War, The Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996). Chapter 5 "We Little Knew: Husbands and Wives" and 6 "To Be an Old Maid: Single Women, Courtship, and Desire"
  • Mary Kelley, Learning to Stand & Speak: Women, Education, and Public Life in America’s Republic (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006). -- this may be helpful just in gaining context for what percentage of women were literate, and what percentage highly literate, throughout the antebellum period.