Follow along on as I discover more about the people and places behind the letters of Dear Mister Ward. I share stories from their lives, historical tidbits and ephemera, and special content. You can view most of it on the website or get it sent to your email.
Merch
Tshirts and other merch are available with quotes from the letters.
Dear Mister Ward is a collection of complaint letters sent to the St Paul, Minnesota office of Montgomery Ward between 1932-1942. They were saved by my grandma and are presented as she typed them later in her life along with an introduction and annotation by me.
Hilarious, weird, and occasionally heartbreaking, the letters reveal the integral role Montgomery Ward played in the lives of those who wrote them.
Touching on topics that include fashion, relationships, technology, loneliness, debt, and toilet paper, they provide a glimpse at the daily lives and preoccupations of rural Americans from the peak of the Great Depression into the early days of World War II.
Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign they are now available in book form as Dear Mister Ward.
Help Find the People of Dear Mister Ward
I have been researching the people who wrote the letters of Dear Mister Ward and the places they lived. Maybe you know some of the people or have photos of some of the places. I’d love to hear from you.
I was honored to have a segment about Dear Mister Ward included in an episode of the BBC4 Radio show and podcast Short Cuts. The episode is available on Spotify, your usual podcast players or at the direct below which you can use to listen in a browser if you’re not a podcast person.
Coverage of Staged Reading at the Shea Theater
Feature Article in The Daily Hampshire Gazette
Feature Article in The Montague Reporter
Segment from Land of 10,000 Stories
Hosted by Boyd Huppert
KARE 11 St Paul, MN
Aired February 28th 2022
Learn more about the letters in an interview I did with Monte Belmonte of WRSI 93.9 The River
Or by watching the book trailer, featuring audio of my grandma talking about her time at Montgomery Ward and the letters.
Or by visting the about page.
Read some sample letters
Please note that most if not all typos, misspellings and grammatical errors in the letters were copied from the originals by my Grandma. She even had a list of misspelled words in the back of the binder.
Merch
Tshirts and other merch are available with quotes from the letters.
