[Ansteorra] A question for those in academia...

[Cat Clark]

> My question is this:  how or where to I go to save the documents for
> prosperity?  This box contains letters written in 1920's to 1940's in, what
> I believe, is Austrian.  

For my Grandmother's photos of her 1920s trip around the world and her 
four years of photos from India and Burma, I took photos of the photos 
using 400 asa film in a Leica camera and no flash - this was back in 
1981.  I am currently scanning them bit by bit - there are hundreds of 
photos so it has been taking a while.  I store them in heavy 2 mil 
museum-grade archival mylar polyester sleeves. These come in many sizes, 
from postage stamp size to big enough to hold old copies of LIFE 
magazine. They also are available in thickness greater than 2 mil, 
though it's hard to find those. I currently buy my archival mylar from 
Bags Unlimited which has a webpage at (surprise!) www.bagsunlimited.com.

Why do you think the letters are Austrian?

As someone who has lived in Austria, please take my word for it that 
there is no such thing as an "Austrian" language.  Wienersprach 
(Austrian German) is to Hoch Deutsch ("High" German) in the same way 
that Texan is to "Middle American."  You can sometimes tell an old 
letter from pre-WWII Austria that was sent to other countries since 
these will sometimes have GRENZE written or stamped on it.  They could 
also have "Frey" written or stamped or "frei bis zur Grenze" written on 
it.  There will also be a postmark on the letter if it went through the 
Austrian post - and those will tell you a great deal about where it was 
from and sometimes when.  Be warned that right up to 1945, the letter s 
in lower case looked like an f instead in both print and handwriting.

If your letters are from Austria, they will likely begin with "Grüß 
Gott..." more often than not though they could also start with "Sehr 
geehrter (name here).." or "Mein liebe (name here)" or just "Liebe 
(name)" or "Lieber (name)."  It would likely have a closing of "Mit 
lieb..." or "mit freundlichen Grüßen" or "mit besten Empfehlungen" or 
"mit vorzüglicher Hochachtung" depending on the context.  Austrians were 
and still are big on using the "Grüßen" words, and along with the 
Bavarians, have held onto the older usage in salutation longer than 
other German speaking places.  (The ß letter, by the way is an "esset" 
which is a double-s.)  Also see look at the address to see if there is 
"Niederösterreich", "Oberösterreich", Kärnten", "Steiermark", 
"Vorarlberg", "Burgenland" or "Tirol" on the last or second to last line 
on the address or if there are other address words like Platz or Hof or 
ending in -straße, -gaße, -allee, or -platz.  Pre WWII Austrian 
addresses will often have the town and state together separated by a 
hyphen.  For example, the town of Tux in the Tyrol would be "Tux-Tirol" 
on an address.

Where are you?  This thread is getting way OT.  My rusty German isn't 
completely pathetic.  I might be able to read your letters.  Drop me a 
line direct. 

ttfn
Therasia