Fragments of Lives—The Use of Private Letters in Historical Research

Abstract

When reading and interpreting private letters the historian needs constantly to be aware of the personal nature of her sources, asking herself to what extent she can use the information revealed in these letters and how far she can go in interpreting another persons' words and deeds—a life. The author argues that the small size of Icelandic society makes this especially important, because descendants or relatives of the people who are being explored and represented in the historian's work are often very sensitive to biographical work of this nature. Furthermore, the historian has to be aware of the ambiguous nature of private letters, as they are not necessarily a “true” narrative of what happened, and the meaning of the sentiments expressed can be unclear to the modern reader. Moreover, what is written in private letters can easily affect the historian emotionally. The author argues that historians must treat private letters with care and do justice to the people that once were alive and left these personal sources for posterity. However, historians must not hesitate to ask new and challenging questions—to reach as far as possible when interpreting a life. This leads the author to reflect on her own disposition in her research, to acknowledge that the boundaries between herself and her subject could become blurred. She does not, however, consider this to be a hindrance for her research but rather sees it as an opportunity to explore and discuss the nature of her sources and to reflect on how knowledge is being produced.

Acknowledgements

My research is funded by Rannís—The Icelandic Centre for Research.

I would like to thank Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, Professor at the University of Iceland, for his comments and encouragement.

Notes

1. Þjms. 192, Jakobína Jónsdóttir to Þóra Pétursdóttir 27 September 1868.

2. Scholars who emphasize the balance between theory and practice have inspired my research, especially concerning the importance of focusing on lives lived and experience as well as the necessity of exploring the construction of society: Stanley (2001; 2002; 2004), Downs (2004), Offen (2003), Abrams (2002).

3. Those interested can read more on Bína in: Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir (2006), “Letters”, in: Andrea Petö & Berteke Waaldijk (Eds) Teaching with Memories: European Women's Histories in International and Interdisciplinary Classrooms, pp. 66–74 (Galway: Women's Studies Centre).

4. Lbs 3179 b 4to. Hólmfríður Þorsteinsdóttir to Þuríður Hallgrímsdóttir 1 November 1863.

5. I discussed this network‐writing briefly in Halldórsdóttir (2003).

6. Þjms. 192. Jakobína Jónsdóttir to Þóra Pétursdóttir 14 January 1869.

7. Lbs 3179 b 4to. Hólmfríður Þorsteinsdóttir to Þuríður Hallgrímsdóttir 1 November 1863.

8. JS 519 4to. The correspondence of Þorbjörg Stefánsdóttir and her uncle Þorgeir Guðmundsson.

9. JS 519 4to. Þorbjörg Guðmundsdóttir to Þorgeir Guðmundsson 16 February 1860.

10. Lbs 2748. Jakobína Jónsdóttir to Solveig Jónsdóttir 7 January 1858, 28 March 1858, 20 September 1863.

11. Lbs 3180 4to. Sigfús Jónsson to Jakobína Jónsdóttir 3 April 1864.

12. Lbs 3178 4to. Thora Fridgeirsdóttir to Einar Fridgeirsson 13 September 1886.

13. This was discussed by Icelandic scholars at the session “Burn the letter. On the ethics of preserving, researching and the publishing of personal sources” at the Annual Conference of Humanities at the University of Iceland 1 November 2003. The author participated in the plenary discussion. See also the interesting conference held by the Australian National Library in 1996: Private Lives Revealed: Letters, Diaries, History, 23 March 1996. Available from: URL: http//:www.nla.gov.au/events/private.html (accessed 9 September 2003)

14. Liz Stanley's articles have been thought‐provoking for me and have in many ways inspired my work. See on this particular matter: Liz Stanley, “Mourning Becomes …” (2002: 8). When first working on this article (then a lecture) in May 2005, I was preparing for a course on creative academic writing that was held in Reykjavík, 23–25 June. The course inspired me in many ways. The course, “Academic and Creative Writing in Gender Studies: Epistemologies, Methodologies, Writing Practices”, was organized by the Nordic Research School in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies.

15. National Broadcasting, channel 1, 8 August 2004.

16. For an overview of lesbian studies and theories I refer to Sue Morgan, The Feminist History Reader (2006). One of the few Icelandic studies on homosexuality in the nineteenth century illustrates the intimate friendship of two young men where presence, embraces and some kind of kisses occurred. See Sigurðardóttir (1998).

17. Þjms. 192. Jakobína Jónsdóttir to Þóra Pétursdóttir 12 September 1868.

18. Þjms. 192. Jakobína Jónsdóttir to Þóra Pétursdóttir 14 January 1869.