Historian Andrew Carroll’s Million Letters Campaign Comes to Charleston Library Society
To RSVP, call 843-723-9912 or email dreutter@charlestonlibrarysociety.org.
On June 14, 2017, at 2:00 p.m., Chapman University Historian Andrew Carroll will bring his Million Letters Campaign to the Charleston Library Society. On a multi-state tour throughout the country, Carroll seeks to collect and preserve at least one million war-related correspondences from every conflict in U.S. History, from handwritten missives penned during the American Revolution to emails sent from Iraq and Afghanistan. Local officials such as Mayor John Tecklenberg will be on hand to read from Carroll’s collection of letters, sharing the poignant words of soldiers, sailors and loved ones throughout American history. Staff will also be available to collect donated letters. Letters pertaining to the Lowcountry or South Carolina as a whole may be donated to the Charleston Library Society, with content to be shared with the Million Letters Campaign. Any other letters can be donated directly to the campaign. Donors are encouraged to copy any letters they wish to save ahead of time; copies will also be accepted by the Million Letters Campaign. A light reception will follow Carroll’s presentation.
For questions about donating or scanning letters and correspondences, call 843-723-9912 or email Leah Rhyne at lrhyne@charlestonlibrarysociety.org.
Andrew Carroll is the founding director of the Center for American War Letters (CAWL) at Chapman University in California. He’s made it his life’s mission to raise public awareness about the need to find and preserve war letters and similar writings to honor and remember veterans, troops, and their families. The Million Letters Campaign began in April 2017 and will travel to libraries, schools, historical societies, veterans organizations, etc. to spread the word about why these writings are so important and to encourage people to donate their correspondences to CAWL so they will be preserved forever. For more information, watch Carroll discuss his campaign on ABC News.