Herman Greenfield
One of the first things that popped up to me in this file was a letter from the "Friends of the ALB" and it was a death notice. It's a letter to Herman's father saying that his son had died and that they were sorry. The thing that interests me most is the paper. The paper has a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the left and below that is a list of sponsors. I mean, come on. They're sending a letter saying his son has died and the paper has a list of sponsors? I'd be so cynical if I were the father.
Along with this is a postcard asking for aid to the Red cause. There's a note along with the card (he sends it to his mother) saying that this is a postcard for the Reds and that they give aid to the soldiers. So perhaps he was a Communist?
Amongst these things are many letters Herman himself writes. He writes very often to his parents which may show that he was quite the family man or that the fact that he was in a war and the idea that death could approach him, led hiim to become more close to his parents. In one of the letters he writes to his mother that he is said to hear economic situations aren't so well back at home. This is great because it gives some input as to how situations are in the US besides Spain. Moreover he writes that he is so happy that his mother says she would like to be there working as well which shows that some parents did support what their kids were doing. By the likes of it, he sounds like he is in the medical division because he says the work of his medical comrades are so highly appreciated.
On the flipside, the letters he writes to his father are much more depressing. He says that he didn't want to write because then he'd have to say things were okay even though they werent. It shows that with mothers, one can be more "untruthful" while with fathers, you can just tell it how it is.
Overall this was a great collection and I feel like a possible idea could be the relations between parents and their kids in Spain.
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