Newspaper pairs modern child's letter with 1927 version to span a century
The Examiner revived its Young Folks letter column, pairing modern children's letters with historic ones from 1906 and 1927.
The weekly series invites children to write letters to their local paper, which are then published alongside historic letters from the paper's archives sent in the early 1900s. The first modern pairing features 10-year-old Reuben from the south of the state, whose story about rolling down a hill in a wheelie bin sits alongside a letter from Jean, also aged 10, written in 1927.
Jean and Reuben describe everyday adventures with the same unbridled enthusiasm. A second pairing features Essie's 1906 letter about her school, friends and love of animals with modern-day Evie, age 7, who writes about similar themes.
The series aims to show how childhood has both changed and stayed the same across generations.
- 10 years old
- Reuben's age
- 1927
- Jean's letter year
- 1906
- Essie's letter year
- 7 years old
- Evie's age
Why it mattersThe revival taps into a simple human interest: what children cared about then tells us something real about what endures in childhood and what has shifted with time.
AustraliaA local Tasmanian paper's decision to connect young readers across a century of history, encouraging children to write and see their voices printed alongside their predecessors.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 39 min ago
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