Rebecca Gratz to Anna Maria Boswell Shelby Gratz - December 03, 1857

Rebecca updates her sister-in-law Maria on the family's plans to visit her in Lexington. She also gives travel and health updates on family and friends.

Rebecca writes to her sister-in-law Maria, discussing the preparation for Passover, a new memoir and current political events, and gives updates on the well-being and status of family members.

Rebecca expresses her sympathy to her sister-in-law Ann, whose son, Jo Shelby, has been taken prisoner of war. She also shares news about her nephew Howard's business prospects.

This is a letter dated August 9, 2010, from John Silber, President Emeritus of Boston University, to "Elie." Silber shares an excerpt from a term paper written by his 13-year-old granddaughter, Olivia Mock, who is identified as one of Alexandra's children and a Protestant Christian. The excerpt describes Olivia's profound engagement with a Holocaust unit in class, emphasizing her realization that figures like Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel were real and that the events truly happened. She includes a powerful passage from her paper depicting the suffering of Jews in a truck during the Holocaust. Olivia expresses her desire to capture the Jewish experience during the persecutions and to spread a message of peace, hoping to humble others as she was humbled by learning about "Hitler's wrath."

Rebecca writes her friend Maria, expressing her sympathy for the husband of Harriet, Maria's sister, after the latter's death. She describes the effects that the annulment of an engagement had on a mutual friend and her family.