In 2019, the Museum received three letters from George Bruestle to his future wife Emma W. Thomsen. The couple spent the summer of 1900 apart, with Emma tending to the health of her sister. Their separation gave him the opportunity to compose several beautiful missives that are embellished like the pages of a medieval manuscript. In this letter dated July 19, 1900, Bruestle reports on New York City’s hot weather and a trip to Coney Island, but also alludes to prior correspondence in which he had delivered “harsh” words to Emma. Was the lovely decoration of this letter an attempt at amends? Read more about the couple and one of the letters transcribed by Registrar Mell Scalzi and Curator Amy Kurtz Lansing … florencegriswoldmuseum.org/transcript-an-illuminated-letter-from-george-bruestle/



