• Sixteen Things Writers Should Know About Quoting From Letters (Mark Fowler, Rights of Writers, 2-2011, which discusses various scenarios)
"Are you the sender of the letter or the recipient? 'If I send you a letter, unless I have an agreement with you to the contrary, I continue to own the copyright. As the recipient of the letter, you own the letter itself -- the paper and ink.'
"As the recipient of the letter, you cannot publish the entirety of the letter without my consent, with limited exceptions, which he spells out).
"If the author of a letter dies, an estate or descendant of the letter writer can grant permission to reprint a letter only if it also inherited copyright and not just the physical letter.
"On the other hand, the philosophy of fair use in the quotation of letters and other source materials is neatly summed up in this quotation from The Chicago Manual of Style:
"Fair use is use that is fair--simply that....The right of fair use is a valuable one to scholarship, and it should not be allowed to decay through the failure of scholars to employ it boldly."
"Ultimately in the Wright case, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals clarified that some amount of quotation from unpublished works, such as letters and diaries, can qualify as fair use. Congress then codified this finding by amending Section 107 of the Copyright Act to add this sentence: 'The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.' "
• Don’t Burn Your Family Letters When You Declutter (Amy Johnson Crow)
• To read or not to read? How to handle a deceased family member’s personal letters (Dawn Roode, Modern Heirloom Books, 5-27-24) Discovering a stack of handwritten letters can feel like winning the family history lottery—but is it always the right thing to read (or share) them?
• Are you weighed down by the stuff of your family’s memories? (Dawn Roode, Modern Heirloom Books,5-27-24) Do you have sentimental boxes of family mementos you don’t know what to do with?
• What Is the Federal Law for Opening Mail Not Addressed to You? (The Law Dictionary) Most people know that it’s illegal to open mail that is addressed to someone else. In fact, there is a federal law that makes it a crime to do so. However, the law only applies under very specific circumstances. To help determine if it’s lawful, take a look at the reasons listed for opening mail not addressed to you.
• Ethics, Etiquette and Old Family Letters (Denise May Levenick, The Family Curator, 4-6-18) When it comes to genealogy and reading other people’s mail, ethics and etiquette are two sides of the same coin. Is it morally correct (ethical) to read other people’s mail? Is it socially acceptable (proper etiquette) to do so?
• How to Preserve Old Letters (Amy Johnson Crow, video, 19 minutes) Denise Levenick, the Family Curator, provides tips on preservation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Collections_of_letters
Miscellaneous resources about letters and postcards:
• Letters of Note
• Grandpa's Postcards (Jana Last's Family History and Genealogy blog)