Research Project
Letters from 19th-Century France: The Everyday Lives of a Family of Notaries in Esternay
Emily Kubaitis used a digital archive of written correspondence between generations of the same French family in the late 19th century to learn how informal correspondence among friends and family members can offer insight into an unfamiliar, historically distant way of life.
- Research Area(s)
- Digital Humanities
- Undergraduate Research
- Co-Investigators
- Miner, Margaret
- Funding Source
- LASURI Undergraduate Initiative
Abstract
Emily Kubaitis’s research project involves an online archive provided to the public by Carleton College. It includes letters from several generations of a family from Esternay, France. The goal of the archive is to encourage dialogue between its curators, academic researchers, and the public. Emily wants to learn how informal correspondence among friends and family members can offer insight into an unfamiliar, historically distant way of life. Among her specific questions are: What was everyday life like for women from a provincial French town in the late 19th century? How does a family of notaries lead their everyday lives? To what extent does the act of writing a physical letter differ from other forms of communication in both 19th-century France and today? What obstacles did the family face between the years 1860-1890? What defines their socioeconomic status as well as their place in the community? Emily concentrates on letters to and from women in the archive between the years 1860-1890. She will use non-archival sources to contextualize their contents and make profiles of the family members that might include personalities, occupations, hobbies, and other aspects of their everyday lives. In some cases, she will also translate the letters. Emily won the Humanities Category at UIC's Research and Impact Day, April 10, 2019. Her research was also chosen for presentation to university of Illinois Board of Trust, May 2, 2019.