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Favorite Things: A Letter of Sympathy

Favorite Things, USS Houston & Military History
Captain Albert H. Rooks (1941), Cruiser Houston Collection

Captain Albert H. Rooks (1941), Cruiser Houston Collection

Whether it’s a rare book printing found at long last or piece of ephemera found in an archival collection by chance, those who visit the University of Houston Special Collections almost always find something they cannot wait to share with others.  In this new series, we take a closer look at what makes the University of Houston Special Collections so special–our Favorite Things.

Valerie Prilop, Digital Collections Librarian, offers us the following as one of her favorite things.

One of my favorite things is a letter from Herbert A. Levitt, Ensign, to Mrs. Albert H. Rooks, the widow of the captain of the USS Houston. I came across this letter once, I can’t even remember now what I was doing, and I was struck by the eloquent expression of sympathy. I wrote down a portion of it on a large Post-it note and I still have it in my office:

“Words often fail to express the sympathy and sentiment that lie behind their cold, stern front, muffling and obscuring by their precise lines in print and their harsh sounds in speech the subtle and varying shades of compassion.”

detail from Herbert A. Levitt's letter to Mrs. Rooks, Captain Albert H. Rooks Papers

detail from Herbert A. Levitt’s letter to Mrs. Rooks, Captain Albert H. Rooks Papers

A copy of the 1945 letter, penned from the Mukden (Hoten) POW camp in Shenyang, China, is part of the Captain Albert H. Rooks Papers in our USS Houston & Military History Collections.  The letter, as well as other correspondence from the Rooks Papers, can be viewed and studied in the University of Houston Special Collections Reading Room.  Material related to Cdr. Levitt may also be found in the Cruiser Houston Collection, and additions have recently been donated by his daughter Kathie Levitt Tiedeman.

Do you have your own “favorite thing” about the University of Houston Special Collections?  If so, we’d love to hear about it!

Ed note:  The original text of this post has been modified to reflect recently acquired materials of research significance.

One thought on “Favorite Things: A Letter of Sympathy

  1. Ms. Prilop, Cdr. (then Ensign) Levitt was my father, and I was pleased to provide Julie with his copy of the letter he wrote to Mrs. Rooks for the Collection. It had been quoted in several newspaper articles . Your comments are so gratifying, and I thank you for sharing them. Dad always wanted to “be published”, and this seems a most fitting way, albeit in a much different format! These words and others he wrote still stun me. Thank you again.