Letters added to virtual archives

The letter from Christian Frautschi in Madison to his brother John Jacob in St. Paul in the fall of 1870 contained a major surprise, as Jacob wrote back: “When you wrote that Napoleon was dead it took us all by surprise and we wonder if it’s true. We don’t ever get the news until it’s old.”

Such windows into 19th- and early 20th-century life among the region’s Swiss immigrants now are available through virtual archives integrated into the Max Kade Institute’s Web page at http://csumc.wisc.edu/FLVA/let/FLVAlettershome.html.

Rick J. Frautschi of California discovered and digitized the find of more than 90 letters, and they have been added to the Frautschi Letter Virtual Archive. The entire collection can be accessed by date, sender, recipients or location.