Letters to Newtown Tumblr Creates Digital Memorial

As news of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary spread, beautiful handwritten letters addressed to the residents of Newtown, CT started pouring in. More than half a million of these letters, each filled with love, sadness, and hope for the future, now reside in the Newtown town hall.

In the hopes of creating a digital archive for these heartfelt letters, Mother Jones, a non-profit news organization, has partnered with Tumblr to share them with the world via the Letters to Newtown Tumblr.

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“Our goal was to preserve and broaden access to these memories, so we set out to photograph as many cards and letters as possible,” said Clara Jeffery, Mother Jones co-editor, who spearheaded this project alongside Newtown resident Ross MacDonald. “The response has been overwhelming so far, including from parents of Newtown, who have reached out and expressed their gratitude for the project and support for preserving the letters.“

Each day the Letters to Newtown Tumblr posts new photos of the cards and letters, some written by children and some by adults.

“This is such an important subject, and it's a natural human-interest story,” said Jessica Bennett, executive editor at Tumblr. “So from a journalistic perspective, I see this as the future: using every possible medium to tell the best story possible.”