{"id":1412,"date":"2015-10-08T18:24:49","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T18:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjhblog.cjh.org\/index.php\/2015\/10\/08\/public-grief-in-personal-papers-condolence\/"},"modified":"2018-06-27T16:35:45","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T16:35:45","slug":"public-grief-in-personal-papers-condolence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/2015\/10\/08\/public-grief-in-personal-papers-condolence\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-1412 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/2015\/10\/08\/public-grief-in-personal-papers-condolence\/attachment\/1413\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/tumblr_nvwz5dAri21r3qmd1o1_400-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<h2>Public Grief in Personal Papers: Condolence Letters to the Klinghoffer Family<\/h2>\n<p>By Leanora Lange<\/p>\n<p>Personal papers are usually just that\u2014personal. They relate to an individual and may reveal what may have otherwise been private, information that was exclusive to this person and perhaps a select group of relatives or friends.<\/p>\n<p>The Klinghoffer Family Papers are unlike any other personal papers I have processed. They are at once intensely personal and painfully public. Leon Klinghoffer\u2019s death at the hands of hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in 1985 thrust the Klinghoffer family into a global spotlight. As the story of the hijacking was covered extensively in newspapers and on television, word of Leon\u2019s murder reached a huge audience. \u00a0The deep, personal pain of the family members reverberated throughout a wide public. <\/p>\n<p>Among this wide public were hundreds who were compelled to share their personal reactions to the events with the Klinghoffer family, to connect from one person to another even if they had never met.<\/p>\n<p>The largest single section of the Klinghoffer Family Papers is made up of condolence letters sent to the family in late 1985. Many of the condolences came from friends, neighbors, colleagues, and former employees. The bulk of the condolences were sent from people who only heard of the Klinghoffers in the news. The following are a small selection of some of these personal messages sent from strangers.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/fc76f843e728adca0ba5134858ab72dd\/tumblr_inline_nvwyvou55o1r0yq0k_540.jpg\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>A sympathy card sent from the employees of the U.S. Postal Service Salt Lake City Air Mail Facility. The letter is signed by individual employees on the verso of the front flap, not shown here.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/c65f72a965446c32819e09d7b55b2642\/tumblr_inline_nvwyw65AJe1r0yq0k_540.jpg\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/a4ce35243c520f852cb541b60d0f8cc2\/tumblr_inline_nvwywdkN5h1r0yq0k_540.jpg\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>One of many cards sent to the Klinghoffers from children.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/caa78a33e9af124bcd70438f5a690c48\/tumblr_inline_nvwyxszEP01r0yq0k_540.jpg\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Outrage from hairdressers in Long Island.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/45cabecce0d906b91fa9383a52363fda\/tumblr_inline_nvwyy0cf781r0yq0k_540.jpg\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>A woman living in the suburbs of New York City planted daffodils and tulips in Leon\u2019s memory. Other individuals and organizations planted trees and dedicated gardens to the Klinghoffers.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/409fe02283a17e46c2068dec2ebf396f\/tumblr_inline_nvwyyixBny1r0yq0k_540.jpg\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>A message from a fellow New Yorker who recited Kaddish for Leon Klinghoffer in front of the Klinghoffers\u2019 apartment building.<\/p>\n<p>The Klinghoffer Family Papers are held at the American Jewish Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History in New York, NY. The full finding aid is available online: <a href=\"http:\/\/digifindingaids.cjh.org\/?pID=3382074\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/digifindingaids.cjh.org\/?pID=3382074<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Image above: Card sent to the Klinghoffers from a child. This was included with a letter from this child\u2019s parents explaining that the child heard about the news and wanted to say goodbye to Leon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public Grief in Personal Papers: Condolence Letters to the Klinghoffer Family By Leanora Lange Personal papers are usually just that\u2014personal. They relate to an individual and may reveal what may have otherwise been private, information that was exclusive to this person and perhaps a select group of relatives or friends. The Klinghoffer Family Papers are unlike any other personal papers I have processed. They&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[361,360,346,38],"class_list":["post-1412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-blog-post","tag-condolences","tag-klinghoffer","tag-leanora-lange","tag-out-of-the-archives","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1414,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412\/revisions\/1414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}