A Family Archive, 1900–1926

The Sam and Dora Letters

Scroll to begin ↓

A box of about 140 letters was found in storage in Vancouver.

Half in English cursive. Half in Yiddish — that no one left in the family could read.

They turned out to be Sam and Dora Diamondstein's — great-grandparents of one of this site's creators, writing to each other in the early 1900s.

AI translated and transcribed every one, then helped rebuild the story from family trees, research, and memory.

This is what resulted.

Also: a real experiment in using AI to do genealogical research honestly.
See How This Was Made

There's no one right way through this. Choose how you want to explore this letters archive.

See all 141 letters →
Start here
Every Letter
Letters, translated and transcribed, sorted by era — the most basic way to browse the archive.
See all
141 letters →
See all 16 people →
Browse
Every Person
Everyone named in the letters — family, friends, and the people caught up in their story.
See all
16 people →
Recommended next
Read the Story
The same events, three ways — pick the pace and format that suits you. The narrative is woven from the real letters; illustrated scenes are AI-generated to evoke them, not literal photos — see How This Was Made.
Illustration: letters crossing in the mail
~30 min
Read the Story: Complete Version
The whole arc, every detail — six chapters, book-style with a cover and back page, letters linked inline.
 Illustration: Sam's Atlantic crossing
Shorter version · ~10 min
Read the Story: Condensed Version
The same story, condensed — five chapters, with the maps, portraits, and illustrations woven in exactly where they belong.
 Illustration: Sam passing as an Austrian Christian
Browse
The Story in Pictures
23 illustrated scenes, if you'd rather see it than read it.
Map: the scattering of the family across the world
~5 min
Follow the Journey
Every place this family went, on a map — each one explained, not just shown.
5 maps + timeline