- Date: Friday, 24 December 1937 — Christmas Eve (worked out from the letter; see the notes)
- Written at: Very probably Washington, D.C., at his sister Dodie’s
- Stationery: Fort Pitt Hotel, Pittsburgh
- From: Joseph “Joe” Sharmer
- To: Miss Ruby E. Wilson, 745 Broadway, Planada, Calif.
- Condition: Complete — 2 pages, photographed with a Fort Pitt Hotel envelope (see the notes)
Each page of the original is shown beside its transcription. Click a page to enlarge it.
ENVELOPE
Air Mail
Miss Ruby E. Wilson
745 Broadway
Planada, Calif
Merced, County
Lower left: M. L.
PAGE 1
M.L.
Friday.
My Dear Ruby—
I have sure slighted you the past week but we have been so busy I hope you forgive me — We couldnt do much this week as everyone is busy and they just wont see you. Sorry the mail service is so slow because I wrote you twice a day from Pitts. As soon as I am on the road again they will start coming at you, because I know how busy you have been. I am only sorry I couldnt of been there to help you.
My cold is the bunk but I am glad I had it this week so I could stay in as I did for 3 days — and that I am not in Planada to give it to you.
Honey I am sending you a small box from Balto not as a Xmas gift but just to show you I love you Dear. So open it and it is not a Merry Xmas but my going away present to the sweetest girl I know
PAGE 2
Honey Ill let you know where Ill be & you can write me because I love to get your letters. You are a sweetheart & I love you. We are going down town to see the Pres light the Xmas tree. More later Dear. I love you with all my heart Sweetheart
As Ever
Joe
Merry Xmas to all
Notes & context
Christmas Eve. Joe dated the letter only “Friday.” The clue is near the end: “We are going down town to see the Pres light the Xmas tree.” President Roosevelt lit the National Community Christmas Tree in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, a few minutes after 5 P.M. on Friday, 24 December 1937, and the ceremony was broadcast on the radio. Joe was spending Christmas with his sister Dodie’s family in Washington, so “going down town” meant from her home to the President’s Park. He wrote this in the afternoon, before they went.
The rest of the letter fits. “I have sure slighted you the past week” and “everyone is busy and they just wont see you” are Christmas week. “I wrote you twice a day from Pitts.” looks back on his week in Pittsburgh (The M.L. Is “My Lover” was his second letter of one day there). The cold he complained of in Pittsburgh (Snow, Sleet, Smoke and Coal Dust) had kept him in for three days. And he had planned to go “back to Balto with Gretchen” the Sunday before, which is where the small box came from.
Hotel paper from Pittsburgh. Joe carried hotel stationery with him. A note he sent from Washington the same night is on paper from the Hotel Gibson in Cincinnati (You Are My Pal).
The envelope. This Fort Pitt Hotel envelope was photographed with the letter. It is addressed in Joe’s hand to “Miss Ruby E. Wilson, 745 Broadway, Planada, Calif, Merced, County,” marked “Air Mail” and “M. L.,” with a 6-cent air mail stamp. But it is postmarked Pittsburgh, at what looks like 10:30 P.M. in December 1937, and on Christmas Eve Joe was in Washington. The day in the postmark is hidden under his pen stroke. It may have been mailed with a different Pittsburgh letter, perhaps the Tuesday 14 December one, whose envelope is missing and which explains “the M.L. on envelope is ‘My Lover.’” Equally, this letter may once have travelled in the Washington envelope of 24 December now shown with “You Are My Pal.”
“I know how busy you have been.” Ruby was Planada’s postmaster (see People), and Christmas week was the busiest of the year at the post office.
“My cold is the bunk.” 1930s slang: the cold is rotten.
“Not a Merry Xmas but my going away present.” Joe had left Planada for this trip at the start of December. What was in the small box from Baltimore isn’t known.
“Merry Xmas to all.” Added below his signature on Christmas Eve.
