Letters We Don't Read.

Hello reader! Liz Maguire, creator and curator of the project, here. In June of 2025 the Flea Market Love Letters archive turned 8 years old. That happened suddenly! Way back in 2017 when I started the archive I didn't have a plan for tomorrow let alone almost a decade later.

But I did know some basic ways about how I was going to set the standard for sharing the letters as part of the project and those standards haven't really changed in 8 years. I written before about viewing the letters as historical artefacts -- and what that means for the good, the bad and the ugly that is discovered in a series. Plus here are some of my thoughts on why we should read 'old letters', generally.

However, recently I was elbow deep in cataloging new letters for the archive (some 200+ in a few days!) and I realized I hadn't yet talked about what happens when in that process I come across a letter that's A.) never been opened or B.) re-sealed over time.

I don't read those letters. So neither will you.

I started thinking about this standard of operations-- that I won't open a sealed letter -- as I was sorting the 'new' 200+ letters sorting the yellowed envelopes and pages chronologically, some envelopes torn and others snugly sealed. Sealed for perhaps 100+ years or resealed over time.

Why? Simply because they aren't for me. I don't mind working with letters that have been opened and passed hands for generations. Oftentimes I buy letters from dealers at flea markets who have read the letters themselves and give me a Cliff Notes of the story. It's my job and vocation to share the letters with readers here. It's not my place to open a letter that has seemingly gone unopened for its lifespan. That is mojo I am not willing to mess with! And in this line of collection there has to be some appreciation for energy.

It was 4 or 5 years ago when a friend gifted me the Roth series of letters and I conversationally, nonchalantly confided in her that when I come across an 'unopened' letter in a series, I don't open it. There's a a sacred threshold about a sealed letter that I don't feel comfortable crossing. Is it surprising, I wonder, that for someone who collects and posts 'strangers' mail on the internet that I don't read sealed, or closed, letters? Probably, but I've also made peace that you have to be a little surprising to collect, store in your home, and share over 3,000 'found' letters on the internet.

So there you have it folks. 'Don't open sealed envelopes' is one of the original standards of operations from the earliest days of Flea Market Love Letters back in 2017 in my D.C. apartment. And I don't think that rule will change any time soon.

Get in Touch.

Have a letter story you'd like to share? Write to us at info@fleamarketloveletters.com.