November 15, 1944 Letter to Merrill Dan
letters, censorship
This is a PDF of a letter from the Special Collections section of the University of Memphis Library. Hope Bespalow, a student at the University of Wisconsin, writes a letter to Merrill Dan, a lieutenant in the United States army. They were both natives of Memphis, Tennessee. The letter is handwritten and written on November 15, 1944. It is written on white paper and in cursive. Hope writes mostly on the subject of the time delay of Merrill’s letters getting to her and her own letters getting to Merrill. She spends a large portion of the letter telling of her aggravation with the delay of delivery.
Bespalow, Hope
Hope and Merrill Dan Papers Box 2, Folder 46 MSS 274
The University of Memphis Libraries
November 15, 1944
Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All Rights Reserved.
April 21, 1944 Letter to Merrill Dan
war widows; old maids; wwii
This is a PDF of a letter from the Special Collections section of the University of Memphis Library. Hope Bespalow writes a letter to Merrill Dan, a lieutenant in the United States army. They were both natives of Memphis, Tennessee. The letter is handwritten and written on April 21, 1944. It is written on white paper and in cursive. The letter addresses Hope’s concerns with finding a husband who might die in the war and making her a war widow. Hope tells Merrill that she would rather die an old maid than become a war widow.
Bespalow, Hope
Hope and Merrill Dan Papers Box 2 Folder 44 MSS 274
The University of Memphis Libraries
April 21, 1944
Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All Rights Reserved.
August 30, 1944 Letter to Merrill Dan
infidelity; French women
This is a PDF of a letter from the Special Collections section of the University of Memphis Library. Hope Bespalow writes a letter to Merrill Dan, a lieutenant in the United States army. They were both natives of Memphis, Tennessee. The letter is handwritten and written on August 30, 1944. It’s written on thin, white paper and in cursive. The letter covers Hope’s visit to a hotel. During her stay she ran into a few friends of hers and described a bit of their conversation. Hope also mentions rumors that she had heard of French women and how promiscuous they could be. She informs Dan to beware of them.
Bespalow, Hope
Hope and Merrill Dan Papers Box 2, Folder 44, MSS 274
The University of Memphis Libraries
August 30, 1944
Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All Rights Reserved.
June 19, 1945 Letter to Merrill Dan
infidelity, wives, marriage
This is a PDF of a letter from the Special Collections section of the University of Memphis Library. Hope Bespalow writes a letter to Lieutenant Merrill Dan. Hope is a college student at the University of Wisconsin. They were both natives of Memphis, Tennessee. The letter is handwritten and written on June 19, 1945. It is written on thin, white paper and in cursive. The letter describes Hope’s disgusted feelings toward infidelity, specifically infidelity by the wives of soldiers who are overseas fighting in World War II.
Bespalow, Hope
Hope and Merrill Dan Papers Box 2, Folder 61, MSS 274
The University of Memphis Libraries
June 19, 1945
Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday-April 27, 1944 Letter to Hope Bespalow
health issues
This is a PDF of a letter from the Special Collections section of the University of Memphis Library. Lieutenant Merrill Dan writes a letter to Hope Bespalow, who is a college student at the University of Wisconsin. They were both natives of Memphis, Tennessee. The letter is handwritten and written on April 27, 1944. Merrill writes the letter on a thin white piece of paper and he writes in cursive. In the letter, Merrill speaks of common issues such as a stomach ache and seeing a doctor. He also speaks of going to the dentist to receive a gold implant for a tooth. He claims of the military doctors taking a long time to get it all done. This was also Dan’s first time using what he referred to as ‘dope’. The letter was written while Dan was still within the United States. He was later sent overseas to fight during World War II. Throughout these letters, Hope and Merrill will fall in love and eventually get married within the ending of the letters. He addresses the letter as “Dearest Hope” and writes on the edge that it is Saturday. In this letter, they seem to be just beginning to converse through letters. He speaks of it being ‘swell’ to have received her letter.
Dan, Merrill
Hope and Merrill Dan Papers Box 1, Folder 2 MSS 274
The University of Memphis Libraries
April 27, 1944
Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All Rights Reserved.
PDF
July 1, 1945 Letter to Hope Dan
wife
This is a PDF of a letter from the Special Collections section of the University of Memphis Library. Lieutenant Merrill Dan writes a letter to Hope Bespalow, who is a college student at the University of Wisconsin. They were both natives of Memphis, Tennessee. This letter is typed by Dan and was written on July 1, 1945. The letter is on a very thin see through piece of paper. The letter is typed. In the letter, Dan refers to Hope as his wife and he says how hard it is to keep their marriage a secret. He also speaks of how hard it is to keep the secret that she is now his wife. He also refers to her as ‘honey’ many times and there is an obvious change in his references that he uses towards her compared to when they first began writing letters.
Dan, Merrill
Hope and Merrill Dan Papers Box 1, Folder 33 MSS 274
The University of Memphis Libraries
July 1, 1945
Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All Rights Reserved.
March 2, 1945 Letter to Hope Bespalow
education; equality; marriage
This is a PDF of a letter from the Special Collections section of the University of Memphis Library. Lieutenant Merrill Dan writes a letter to Hope Bespalow, who is a college student at the University of Wisconsin. They were both natives of Memphis, Tennessee. The letter is handwritten and written on March 2nd, 1945. The paper is written on white, see through paper in cursive. The issue of Hopes parents, specifically her mother, concern with her getting a higher education is brought up and Dan lets Hope know that he supports her in whatever she decides to do. Dan mentions how much he loves her and misses her multiple times throughout the letter, attributing an entire paragraph to it at one point. He also tells her that it is important to him that their future marriage be on equal ground. He refers to it as a 50-50 basis. He does not want one dominating the other and cares about her opinion on the matter. He also tells her about the purple ink that she was using in her previous letters.
Dan, Merrill
Hope and Merrill Dan Papers Box 1, Folder 44, MSS 274
The University of Memphis Libraries
March 2, 1945
Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All Rights Reserved.
July 4, 1945 Letter to Hope Dan
letters, sweetheart, darling, love, marriage
This is a PDF of a letter from the Special Collections section of the University of Memphis Library. Merrill Dan, a lieutenant in the U.S. Military, writes a letter to his new wife, Hope Dan, a college student at the University of Wisconsin. They were both natives of Memphis, Tennessee. This letter is typed by Dan and is on very thin almost see through paper. In this letter he repeatedly says how much he loves Hope and he uses all sorts of name for her. He uses sweet heart, darling and love. He speaks of being very busy and the fact that he can barely write back to her or anyone else who has been writing to him.
Dan, Merrill
Hope and Merrill Dan Papers Box 1 Folder 33 MSS 274
University of Memphis Libraries
July 4, 1945
Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All Rights Reserved.