Chain Letter Evolution http://www.silcom.com/%7Ebarnowl/chain-letter/evolution.html CHAIN LETTER EVOLUTION Daniel W. VanArsdale ©1998, 2002 410 kilobytes Abstract: Billions of paper chain letters circulated in the 20th century. Using a sample of over 525 dated letters, predominant types are identified and analyzed for their replicative advantage. The major emphasis is on traditional English language luck chain letters. After thousands of generations, these accumulated remarkable methods of getting themselves copied. Complementary testimonials developed, one exploiting perceived bad luck, another exploiting perceived good luck. Some letters could appear Catholic to Catholics and Protestant to Protestants. Key events in chain letter history are examined in detail, including the puzzling origin of money chain letters. A reconstruction of uncollected intermediate forms suggests that around 1932 a luck chain letter actually brought unexpected money in the mail to some who lived in small towns. In 1935 the first money chain letter appeared, the infamous "Send-a-Dime," which was copied over a billion times within a few months. Newly discovered sources are used to argue that the unknown author of Send-a-Dime was a Denver woman motivated by charity. The collection of letters is presented on-line in HTML format in the Paper Chain Letter Archive. An Annotated Bibliography on Chain Letters and Pyramid Schemes contains over 350 entries. A Glossary facilitates the independent reading of sections. CONTENTS Acknowledgments 1. Paper Chain Letters 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Motivational Categories 1.3 Sources 2. Luck Chain Letters 2.1 Predecessors 2.2 The Mainline 2.3 Outliers 3. How Chain Letters Work 3.1 Population Dynamics 3.2 Distribution Networks 3.3 Evolution 3.4 Retention 3.5 Compliance 3.6 Mainline Testimonials 3.7 Effective Copying 3.8 Effective Distribution 4. Events in Chain Letter History 4.1 Origin of Money Chain Letters (1922 - 1935). 1 sur 88 02/02/2005 15:50 Chain Letter Evolution http://www.silcom.com/%7Ebarnowl/chain-letter/evolution.html 4.2 Divergence of Luck and Money Chains (1935 - 1939). 4.3 Luck Follows Money (1952). 4.4 Origin of Copy Quota Twenty-Four (1959 - 1973). 4.5 The Media Chain Letter (1948 - 1995) 4.6 The "It Works" Blitz (1979 - 1982). 4.7 The Mainline Since 1982. TABLES 1. Contents of the Paper Chain Letter Archive. 2. Mainline types. 3. Feature linkage: terminology and consequences. 4. Good Luck to Send-a-Dime. 5. Selected Luck Chain Specifications. 6. Occurrences of D, L, LD, and DL postscripts. 7. Occurrences of Trust, Belief, Kiss, Wife's Money, Love and Car. 8. Collapse of the Paper Luck Genre. Acknowledgments I could not have conducted this study without the assistance and friendship of Dr. Michael J. Preston, University of Colorado English Professor and folklorist. He obtained scores of letters, gave me copies of his files and put me up in his home while I worked in the CU Boulder library. The help of Dr. William F. Hansen, folklorist and Head of the Department of Classical Studies at Indiana University was also indispensable. He provided many useful chain letters and translations, and his interest and encouragement have been sustaining. Special thanks also go to Alan E. Mays, who sent many chain letters, his bibliography on chain letters and the Himmelsbrief, and archived chain email. Paul Smith also provided scores of letters and an extensive bibliography. Anna Guigne sent a stack of chain letters and answered questions. Steve Glickman helped with microfilmed Denver Post articles at UC Boulder. Carol Petty copied local newspaper articles in Springfield, Missouri, where chain letters rampaged for a few days in 1935. John Burkhardt shared his thoughts early in the project and emailed digitized letters. James H. Patterson has provided photocopies of many rare chain letters from his collection of "unmailable" items. Sandy Hobbs recently sent photocopies of every chain letter that has appeared in the publications Dear Mr. Thoms and Letters to Ambrose Merton. I have received much needed help with foreign language chain letters. Sarah Winter translated several chain letters and an entire article from French into English. Ianina Tishchenko found several Russian chain letters and articles, and translated published letters in Polish and Russian to English. Dr. Jean-Bruno Renard has sent chain letters from France and Brazil, and a bibliography of French publications. Natalia Kasprzak sent two Polish articles on chain letters and translated a Polish letter into English. Bill Clark translated some chain letter Tagalog. Though I am solely responsible for the approach and presentation here, this effort was sustained because a few people expressed interest. I am especially thankful for the encouragement of Richard Dawkins, who suggested I write "a book on chain letters, with all your detailed examples and analyses." This is not a book, but likely it is enough detail for most readers. A list of those who provided one or more paper chain letters appears on the information page for the archive. 2 sur 88 02/02/2005 15:50 Chain Letter Evolution http://www.silcom.com/%7Ebarnowl/chain-letter/evolution.html 1. Paper Chain Letters 1.1 Introduction. Seeking paper chain letters. Overview. Files and Conventions. Seeking paper chain letters. If you have any information on where we may obtain more paper chain letters please email. Chain letters can be sent directly to D. VanArsdale, PO Box 2335, Lompoc, CA 93438. Include the date you received the chain letter and its method of delivery, as by enclosing the postmarked envelope if the letter came in the mail. Letters nearly identical to one already collected are very useful. Foreign examples, clippings, obscure or foreign references, beliefs and rumors about chain letters, stories of receiving unexpected money in the mail or other personal experiences with chain letters are also welcome. Your comments and suggestions for this article are appreciated. Overview. Texts that appeal to superstition to encourage their copying or publication have circulated for over a thousand years. Beginning around 1900, copy quotas and deadlines were added, and claims of divine authorship and magical protection were removed. The resulting "luck chain letters" still circulate, and in over four thousand generations of copying (with variation) they have accumulated ways to increase replication that challenge our understanding. Using a collection of over 525 dated paper chain letters, we have identified types and variations that appear and disappear over the years. Unexpectedly, it was discovered that, repeatedly, a single letter bearing some new innovation will propagate so abundantly and rapidly that within just a few years its descendants replace all similarly motivated letters in our collection. Subtle methods that increase replication include: The use of ambiguity to deal with such questions as: Does simply passing on the received letter avoid bad luck? Does distribution of copies after the deadline bring good luck? Is the letter from a Catholic or Protestant source? The transfer of key text from a foreign letter to an indigenous letter, cueing an ethnic minority to misidentify the indigenous letter as the "same letter" that circulated in their home country. The assemblage of complementary testimonials, such as One that exploits perceived bad luck by one who is holding the letter, another that exploits perceived good luck. One that motivates an office supervisor to comply, another that motivates a subordinate to comply. Though most successful variations first appear as deliberate innovations, often the resulting advantage to replication could not have been anticipated. And some highly successful variations likely first appeared as copying errors. By testing hundreds of thousands of variations, chain letters have discovered and exploited secret fantasies and vulnerabilities. In addition to this relentless probing of their audience, they have an internal history marked by the irreversible appearance of new technologies and deadly competition between variations. Our collection supports the view of chain letters as a "mind virus" (Goodenough & Dawkins), a self perpetuating subversion of human will and action. They have evolved independent of our real needs and beyond our control. Billions have been distributed despite near universal public condemnation. Chain letters are "designed" to replicate, not to help anyone. Hope and fear, truth and error, charity and greed, all may be used in service to reproduction. Yet in this terrible freedom lies their one service to humanity: they instruct us on the generality and inexhaustible opportunism of evolution. 3 sur 88 02/02/2005 15:50 Chain Letter Evolution http://www.silcom.com/%7Ebarnowl/chain-letter/evolution.html Files and Conventions. Here are the directories (folders) and files in directory /chain-letter/, all pertaining to paper chain letters. evolution.html ("Chain Letter Evolution" - this file) bibliography.htm (Annotated Bibliography on chain letters and pyramid schemes) glossary.htm (Definitions of terms used for paper chain letters) /archive/ (Directory containing The Paper Chain Letter Archive, 525 + HTML files) /archive/!index.htm (Index of filenames in directory /archive/) /archive/!information.htm (Information on The Paper Chain Letter Archive) /archive/!search.htm (Search through the /chain-letter/ directory. Provided by FreeFind.) /e-archive/ (Directory containing emails and posts, 15+ HTML files) /e-archive/!index.htm (Index of filenames in directory /e-archive/) The Annotated Bibliography contains over 350 entries and was designed for the author's use in preparing this treatise. Since it may be of use by other researchers I have placed it on-line as a single HTML file and linked citations here to internal targets in the Bibliography. We have chosen terminology that is easily remembered. However many concepts, such as "circulation," have a specialized definition here. Such terms are given in bold when first introduced and defined; some later appearances are linked to a Glossary where formal definitions are given. This facilitates reading sections independently.