A collection of 44 handwritten letters by Sallie F. Lotta of New York, 1918, and one additional letter; all incoming to James S. Crossland of Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Of a German bank employee trying his hand at explosives (and life events less explosive)


Collection of 44 letters by Sarah Frances “Sallie” Lotta to her boyfriend, later fiancée, James S. “Jim” Crossland, Jr. Sallie lives in New Rochelle, New York and works in New York City for the Bankers Trust Company. She is in a long-distance relationship with Jim; he lives and works in Philadelphia.

Her letters reveal her intimate feelings of love, insecurity, and doubt about their relationship. The eight-month correspondence seen here, all from 1918, begins (almost) with a bang. Sallie describes an incident of possible German terrorism in the very building in which she works. The Great War (WWI), of course, is then being fought in Europe, but here it seemingly comes to the heart of New York City:

Somewhere in N.R. [New Rochelle] there is a little girl with a Lotta name who is glad she is living to-day, now don’t get excited because it is all over now, however serious it might have been I’m here but as I said before we have the engineer of this building I am sending [a reference to a small illustration of the Bankers Trust Co. Building enclosed with the letter] for the safety of our lives. It seems there was a German employee of this bank discharged just before Christmas and the other day he walks in takes the elevator to the basement enters the engine room & finding nobody there prepares to blow up the building when all of a sudden the engineer jumps on him seises [sic] the man holds him & calls for help which happened by luck there were two men coming from the inspection room however they arrested him & I hope he will get all that he deserves. Think what a terrible catastrophe it would have been over four hundred employees here. (January 15)

The fact that the disgruntled employee was German set Sallie, and presumably others, on edge.

The incident causes Sallie to think about her life. She worries that “[s]omehow I feel you haven’t known me long enough to know what I am like & you might be disappointed…” She is concerned that he too easily befriends women. By the end of January, however, the relationship has taken a new turn: although they are not married, she begins to address him as “Hubby” or as her “Husband” and refers to herself as his “Wife.” By March they are engaged:

...I am yours all yours forever. ... I’m beginning to get naughty with my expressions but we understand each other dear & we are married now just between ourselves nobody else in in on this. ... Jim I would have given $100. if you could have been with me Monday morning when I arrived at the office, all the girls were surrounding my file waiting for me & I can’t begin to illustrate the different expressions but all on the chorus was “Oh”! what a beauty” & all flows of kisses & one girl said what you did dear, “it’s just like you Sallie,”... I only wish I were as brilliant as this stone but it’s your dear face smiling at me every time I look at it & my wasn’t I proud to show it. Jim dear you can’t imagine how happy I am not because I have the ring but because of its meaning & because it has your name engraved on the inside. ... I am having the announcement in the paper to-day… (March 12)

Jim appears to be struggling to find better employment in Philadelphia; Sally hopes to improve her secretarial skills by learning how to type faster. She worries about his being drafted into the army: “...but dearie should you leave off working for the government you will be liable to draft so dearie don’t you think you could get with some other ship building concern, I know architectural business is on the blink just now other than government positions.” (March 18)

Sallie faces her own insecurities:

...I have been so sad these past two Jim had terrible dreams & they have taken such an effect upon me. ... I dreamed dear that we found we didn’t love each other anymore & that we were both holding back our feelings just to shield us from our people & that we both came to-gether & out & but confessed that we should have waited until we knew each other better before we took this most serious step & that we had decided to disagree. Wasn’t that some dream hun? ... [we] should have waited a little longer so as to find each others faults & know wheather [sic] or not we could agree. (n.d.; postmarked April 5)

Though separated, the couple begin to plan to furnish a house; Sallie considers taking a new job at the New Rochelle Trust Company. She longs for intimacy:

I need you dear very much & long so to see you & feel your little body so close to mine not in a naughty way but just to love you & have you near me. Nobody knows what I have suffered being away from you… Just remember dear that all my love is yours & later on I shall be able to show you what I have kept in store so be patient with me & I shall count the days one by one when we shall be in our little world… (July 18)
I love you more & more every time we come to-gether & I think you fully understand me now only our real love is to be realized when we come to-gether which I hope wont be long. (n.d.; postmarked July 31)

As the present correspondence ends, it appears that Sallie is going to visit Jim in Philadelphia. An outlying letter in the collection from July 1919, written to “Mr. & Mrs. James S. Crossland,” from Jim’s brother George and Geroge’s wife, May, in California, informs us that the couple did finally marry: “Received your card announcing your wedding we all send our congratulations that you may both live as long as you like and that you both may be blessed with health and happiness…”


Description: A collection of 44 handwritten letters by Sallie F. Lotta of New York, 1918, and one additional letter; all incoming to James S. Crossland of Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

New Rochelle and New York, New York. January 15–August 28, 1918 and July 11, 1919. 45 Autograph Letters Signed. 4tos. and 8vos. All, except one, with stamped mailing envelopes. Accompanied by four empty envelopes. Folds; some worn and torn envelopes; letters all very good.

[3726206]

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