General Correspondence & Employment Applications  

Long before there was email, there was the mail. Correspondence typed and/or handwritten on paper, sealed in envelopes, posted attached, dropped off at the local post office or picked up by the neighborhood postman. From there the correspondence was sent and received within days to their addressed destinations.

This was the primary method of communication between A. Schwab and its customers, vendors, and potential employees. Here in this section, we see not just general correspondence to and from A. Schwab, but also a host of job applications from the Mid-South and well beyond.  

The general correspondence includes letters about returns and refunds, new purchases, and thank-you notes. And the job applications are just that: prospective candidates applying for a variety of positions at A. Schwab, including many willing to travel from miles around to work at the fabled store on Beale Street. 

Featured here are some of the recently digitized items from the 1920s and the 1930s, during the heights of the Great Depression.