All the Gentlemen Callers: Letters Found in a 1920's Steamer Trunk

Shortly after completing the recent biography of my Aunt Jessie Pifer, I opened her steamer trunk (the high school graduation gift from her parents in 1924) to have a photograph taken of its fabric-lined interior to be used on the back cover of that book. Years ago when we moved Jessie to an assisted living facility I had not opened the drawers in the trunk because it felt intrusive. A few years later when circumstances compelled me to tell Jessie's story, I chose to keep the trunk closed and positioned so that the purple and gold decal in the shape of a pennant with the word "Clarion" emblazoned on it could best be viewed, serving as a daily reminder of Jessie's life and what had happened to her. Expecting that the standing trunk would make a charming photograph, I set it upright and opened it, to best display its set of five drawers on the right, integrated metal holding rods with custom-fitted wooden hangers of various shapes on the left, and its build-in cosmetic case on a swivel at the bottom. In opening the bottom drawer to give depth to the view of the trunk's interior I found a dozen letters, tied with a white ribbon, that turned out to be from Jessie's high school and college girl friends. Under that small bundle I discovered a cache of more than 100 letters dating from 1924 to 1938, some tied together, others loose, but all addressed to "Jebbie" and all from her suitors during that period of her youth.   Reading letters, particularly love letters, is similar to reading a diary. We are interested and curious, but still hold a certain sense of being intrusive. However, letters are still considered the most personal way to understand the character and personality of an individual and of the zeitgeist in which the letters are written. Placing these particular letters in their historical context of "The Roaring Twenties" and "The Great Depression" is particularly poignant in that they are written mainly by those in their early twenties, young people who were on the cusp of the great adventure of life. In this collection most of the letters are written by gentlemen to one particular beauty--Jessie Beverly Pifer, dashing, independent, fashionable, and always remembered as the stylish and vibrant Jebbie, Belle of the Class of 1924. The letters, many beautiful in their own right because of the handwriting, provide a first hand account of daily travails lived by the young nearly a century ago, expressing a parallel to modes of communication of then and now, displaying emotions familiar to all generations, and revealing the love and devotion of All the Gentlemen Callers who loved Jessie. We can't help but wonder how emails of today can ever connect the sender and the receiver through the carefully constructed, flowing reflection, and very personal expression found only in love letters written with a fountain pen. The Author, Dr. Judith Thompson Witmer, holds a respect and passion for social history of small towns and the families who live there. The author of nearly a dozen books, ranging from biographies to educational administration and other trade books, her most recent publication (2011) is Jebbie: Vamp to Victim, the true story of Jessie Beverly Pifer, a beautiful young woman with many suitors who became entrapped in a web of deceit. All the Gentlemen Callers is a companion to Jebbie, focusing on the social interaction of young men who came calling on young women, a generation like no other in changing the social times and expectations of becoming adults in a time Studs Terkel called "euphoric" and F. Scott Fitzgerald termed "The Jazz Age."