George Knoles's wealth of papers at Stanford

In this age of glowing screens, George Knoles' boxes of correspondence feel like treasure chests. Letters are penned on blue Aerogrammes or typed on gossamer onionskin paper. The handwriting can be impossibly small.

Dip into a box, and you might find a letter from Knoles during World War II, stamped with "Passed By Naval Censor." Or a 1950s plea from one of Knoles' Stanford students for a better grade.

For years, there's an annual missive from Stanford's history department, offering Knoles a job for the coming year: as assistant, and then instructor, and then acting assistant professor, and on up the ladder. One of the first reads: "It was voted to recommend you to the President for a position as assistant in history for the year 1935-36 at a salary of $400 for three quarters."

Since Knoles has been a historian for decades, it makes sense that he ensured his papers were cared for. The letters are part of the 15 linear feet of George Harmon Knoles Papers in Stanford University Libraries' Department of Special Collections and University Archives....