Letters | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/letters/RSS feed for LettersenMon, 28 Sep 2026 11:45:00 +0000Who Wrote Elizabeth I's Most Scathing Letters? New Research Suggests the Tudor Queen's Male Secretaries Revised Her Correspondence to Emphasize Her Temperhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-wrote-elizabeth-is-most-scathing-letters-new-research-suggests-the-tudor-queens-male-secretaries-revised-her-correspondence-to-emphasize-her-temper-180989565/An analysis of more than 500 missives found that Elizabeth's advisers crafted and even intensified the expression of emotion in her messages to such figures as Mary, Queen of Scots, and James VI of ScotlandMon, 28 Sep 2026 11:45:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-wrote-elizabeth-is-most-scathing-letters-new-research-suggests-the-tudor-queens-male-secretaries-revised-her-correspondence-to-emphasize-her-temper-180989565/This American Commando Parachuted Behind Enemy Lines in Both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War IIhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-american-commando-parachuted-behind-enemy-lines-in-both-the-european-and-pacific-theaters-of-world-war-ii-180989396/A direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson, Francis Lowell Coolidge was an agent with the Office of Strategic Services, a predecessor to the CIA. Read his goodbye letter to his wife, published here for the first timeThu, 27 Aug 2026 12:33:42 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-american-commando-parachuted-behind-enemy-lines-in-both-the-european-and-pacific-theaters-of-world-war-ii-180989396/This Connecticut Teenager Spied on the British During the American Revolution, Succeeding Where Nathan Hale Failedhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-connecticut-teenager-spied-on-the-british-during-the-american-revolution-succeeding-where-nathan-hale-failed-180989309/Newly uncovered documents reveal the story of David Maltbie, who relayed intelligence to the patriots in 1776, narrowly avoiding execution as a spyMon, 17 Aug 2026 11:45:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-connecticut-teenager-spied-on-the-british-during-the-american-revolution-succeeding-where-nathan-hale-failed-180989309/This Box of 300 Love Letters Showed Up Out of the Blue. Who Was the Whimsical World War II Soldier Who Wrote Them?https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-box-of-300-love-letters-showed-up-out-of-the-blue-who-was-the-whimsical-world-war-ii-soldier-who-wrote-them-180989300/Nobody knows who dropped Speedy Weber's correspondence at a USO office in 2022. Researchers have finally tracked down two living relatives who remember himMon, 10 Aug 2026 15:02:12 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-box-of-300-love-letters-showed-up-out-of-the-blue-who-was-the-whimsical-world-war-ii-soldier-who-wrote-them-180989300/