Between the Covers

Unbound. A collection of 31 letters to and from a husband and wife living in separate parts of Virginia between 1902 and 1910. Most letters are near fine, some have light tidemarks.

Annie S. Jarratt lived in the eponymously named Jarratt, Virginia, while her husband Ben L. Drew lived in Wakefield, Virginia working as a farmhand. Most of the letters focus on the distance between them and how much they miss each other. Drew was always working, which appeared to be a source of constant illness. The couple both write about their fears of small pox, whooping cough, scarlet fever, and typhoid fever. In some letters, Drew has sent money to help pay for needed items around the house as well as for prescription drugs that Jarratt is able to obtain for her children.

Census records, which identify both Drew and Jarratt as “mulatto,” indicate that neither could read nor write, but this is obviously belied by these letters. The couple also seem to embrace their part in the racial hierarchy: Drew talks about her distrust of African-Americans and Drew talks about his desire to read, “I also want to read the Clansman, I see it has been dramatized and played.”

An interesting archive detailing the lives and illnesses of a mixed-race family and the medicinal practices used during 1902 through to 1910.

Item #417816