My daily rotation theme for my WordPress, Instagram and Pinterest are in the early process of experimentation and so far they seem to be gaining momentum slowly and that is how it is anyway when it comes to starting something new or starting over again.
At first, my Thursday theme was all about vintage postcards with handwritten notes in the back. But a few days ago, something came to mind and I went and grabbed a binder full of letters written by Rexford A. Bristol, Chairman of the Board of Directors, from 1960.
Every envelope has an image embedded with a picture of whatever stamp is attached, and every letter talks about the history of that matching envelope — then before he ended each letter, he would segway into talking about his business in a short description. I know I can write the first story because you are reading it right now — but going forward, I have to figure out how to make each letter come alive in a way that is creative and interesting.
It all started seven years ago when I went to Savers Thrift store near me but that location is now closed a few years ago because homeless people tend to hang around nearby and they would be hanging outside begging for money.
I was just browsing around and decided to check the locked shelf and I found this stack of letters on the upper shelves and I could tell right away they were old and it said “First Day Issue Stamp” on the envelope. I liked stamps so I bought them all.
When I got home I right away checked what they were and that is how I noticed one of the envelopes had a letter inside. I was so excited I opened it right away.
I did a video showing them in a stackable format. I knew then these should be preserved because they are worth like a book to me of a person who once in their lifetime spent the time to write. It is actually a genius collection of sales letter references which I am gravitating very much. Therefore, I decided to put them in a binder for future use and right then I knew there will be a time these will be shared to a bigger audience and let the voice of Rexford come to life one more time.
It took a few years before someone reached out to me. What I did was research Foxboro — now called Schneider Electric. I contacted them via email a few years back asking if there is anyone at their company connected with Rexford and no one responded. Two years after that I reached out again and this time someone replied and mentioned they actually have an area built for the evolution of their tools over the years and if I wanted I could donate these letters. I shared photos of a few letters via email but I didn’t reply to their donation offer.
A few months after that a man contacted me saying he is the nephew of Rexford. What gave it away was he works at Schneider and he saw the letters I shared via email and that is when he reached out to me personally. He said his grandpa wrote those letters for his grandma while away on business. Right there was a flag because why would Rexford write letters to his wife when every envelope was addressed to a different business individual?
His nephew asked me to return them saying I can drop them at his office or mail them to him. He also said he would love his kids to read what their grandpa wrote. The tone of “he wants it back” sounded more like a command without even using the word please. That “drop it at his office or mail it” also rubbed me the wrong way — not even offering to pay for the shipping and not even offering to buy them back. What I felt with Rexford’s nephew is that attitude of inconsideration. Also, if his nephew or anyone in his family valued these letters where were they donated to begin with?
A few months ago another person — this time a claimed niece — sent me an email on Instagram saying she would love to buy them and give them as a gift for her grandma who she said is Rexford’s sister.
I didn’t reply because at that point I lost the desire to have anything to do with anyone claiming to be related to the author.
I believe the best way is to let me do the sharing as I value all of Rexford’s vintage letters based on how I have been preserving them.
