Meet Our First Guest Curator

One of my favorite things to do in college was attend guest lectures. I loved learning from interesting academics about obscure but fascinating corners of American history I never knew existed.

This week, I'm thrilled to announce our homage to guest lectures, the Letterjoy Guest Curator Program.

Through this program, we'll bring in three or four expert historians per year to write about the subjects they know best and curate a letter for you. Their letters will appear in our American History collection.

Our first guest curator is Dr. Claude Berube, a long-time professor at the United States Naval Academy, Director of the Academy's museum, novelist, and founding host of the museum's excellent podcast, Preble Hall.

In 2022, the estate of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, father of the nuclear navy, donated a massive trove of his papers to the Naval Academy.

Over the next year and a half, Dr. Berube read through pretty much all of them. He published his most interesting finds in a book, Rickover Uncensored, earlier this year.

This month, Letterjoy members will receive a reproduction of one of Dr. Berube's favorite letters from the book, along with a "postscript" telling the story of Admiral Rickover's life and work. It will be an intriguing look at one of the great characters in late 20th century military history (If you want to see what I mean, watch the "60 Minutes" clip at the bottom of this blog post).

To celebrate this launch, we're giving away 10 paperback copies of Rickover Uncensored. You can enter the giveaway here.

Know an expert who would be a great guest curator? Let us know.