Collinsville Family Looks to Make Letters Relevant in the Digital World

For many letters are becoming a thing of the past. Most correspondence from the younger generation comes in a barrage of short digital messages and the memories of the elderly often sit in a shoebox, slowly succumbing to time and the elements.

But Drew Bartkiewicz of Collinsville, with the help of his family, has launched an ambitious project designed to preserve those old memories, help create new ones, bridge that generational communication gap and make letters meaningful again.

Welcome to http://lett.rs, an effort to bring letters into the digital age.

“We just need letters to catch up to the Internet,” Bartkiewicz said.

The site does that in many ways. Registered users, who only need an e-mail and password, can scan or photograph those old memories and upload them to a virtual fridge. They can also view the work of others and use the site to compose letters in a digital format. These can be stored in the virtual desktop while they’re being composed and when finished placed on the fridge for the world to see or in a shoebox if they’re more private in nature.

Letters can also be sent to recipients either digitally or through the mail. It’s the last option that will give Bartkiewicz a way to generate some revenue.

Letter writers can opt to have lett.rs, print and mail their letter. Cost ranges from $2 for a good quality paper to $10 for a fine linen paper, scented and wax-sealed letter. ($3 additional for overseas mailing)

Bartkiewicz said this will help bridge that generational gap. A young person can use the computer to send a letter to a grandparent or veteran in town but the recipient can receive a cherished paper letter.

“It’s cross generational,” Bartkiewicz said. “The emotion of letters is in the older generation. The ability to bring letters back is in the hands of the younger generation.”

Bartkiewicz has always loved letters and has used the site to document many of his treasured moments — from the letters his grandmother Marion Bleakley sent him at West Point, to those he sent to his wife Araceli after they met in Spain in the mid 1990s to a letter he sent to an ailing neighbor, Robert W. Humphrey. He was honored to read it at Mr. Humphrey’s funeral and is glad it's now being preserved for the world to see.

The concept for the site was developed with the help of the entire Bartkiewicz family, including kids Blake, Dane, and Ana.

In 2008 the family began thinking about “LifesLetters” and wrote to each other.

His daughter Ana even set up a mail system, complete with flags, at the top of their stairway.

And now Bartkiewicz has many plans for the project, which became http://lett.rs.

“I believe in the mission of it,” he said.

He is looking to launch some exciting projects with it, such as working with Canton Middle School on future letter-writing projects.

He is looking to make it work as a business and has additional revenue ideas, such as offering sponsored virtual magnets to go on those virtual fridges.

The family has set up a post office box for the business at the Collinsville post office and Araceli has created the Lett.rs center in the family’s dining room

Bartkiewicz doesn’t discount those quicker forms of communication. You can follow http://lett.rs on twitterand facebook as well as share your favorites. He does, however, feel it’s time to emphasize that some correspondence should be more meaningful and preserved. 

“We’re at a place where we’re starting to discern between meaningful and disposable communication,” Bartkiewicz said.