Visual Correspondence

Analysing Letters through Data Visualisation

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  • Thomas and Kathleen Clarke Letters

    Thomas and Kathleen Clarke Letters

    Thomas Clarke was one of the key architects of the 1916 Easter Rising, while his wife Kathleen was a founder member of Cumann na mBan and became Dublin's first female Lord Mayor. Find out more about them both.

  • Karl Marx and Frederick Engels Correspondence 1870-1895

    Karl Marx and Frederick Engels Correspondence 1870-1895

    Along with Frederick Engels, Karl Marx electrified 19th Century political and economic thought. The effects of his work are very much still with us today. He was also a family man and a friend to many as his many letters show. Explore his world.

  • Patrick H. Pearse Letters

    Patrick H. Pearse Letters

    Before 1916, Padraig Pearse was an educational innovator, a writer, a powerful orator and advocate of the Irish language. After 1916 he became synonymous with the Easter Rising in Ireland. Find out more about his life through his letters.

  • James Joyce Letters

    James Joyce Letters

    A bold revolutionary in the world of fiction, James Joyce was a literary genius. He was also a traveller. The author of Ulysses went on his own unique odyssey, travelling with his family around Europe for much of his life. Discover more through his letters.

A line

Letters on this Date

  • From Darwin, Charles Robert To Huxley, T. H. (1857)
  • From Gogh, Vincent van To Gogh, Theo van (1884)
  • From Mansell, Alison To Lay, Cecil Howard (1938)
  • From Clemens, Samuel L. To Unidentified (1880)
  • From Zola, Émile To Mon cher ami (1887)
  • From Casement, Sir Roger (1915)
  • From Menocal, Mayito Jr. To Hemingway, Ernest and Mary (1951)
  • From Zola, Émile To Céard, Henry (1886)
  • From Harte, Bret To Knaufft, Eliza H. (1891)

More letters for 16th December

Letter writing is a rich and ancient form of communication. It offers deep insights into the thoughts, feelings and experiences of people from every walk of life in a more immediate way than almost any other medium. As well as the content of letters, the set of circumstances surrounding a letter's creation, transmission and reception tells a story in itself.

Data visualisation strives to make sense of the large and complex, condensing and clarifying complicated data in a single image. It can achieve an impact that words simply cannot replicate.

Visual Correspondence uses data visualisation to makes sense of a person's life through their correspondence. Who they wrote to, who wrote to them, when and where - these flashes of detail unveil a rich narrative about people and our past through images.

As well as providing tools to visualise huge collections of correspondence, in bringing together detail on 165327 letters from 56 collections, Visual Correspondence provides a new way to explore the letters themselves. Links to the full text of the letters are provided were possible and added information helps put the letters in context. Hopefully in exploring this site, you will start to see correspondence in a new way.

Choose a collection and start to visualise

Niall O'Leary Services accepts no liability in respect of the accuracy of data on this website. All data on this site is presented as is and visitors use it at their own risk. Outside of metadata no letter content has been used on this website. All letters and detail on all people's letters are listed.