The Nashville Public Library now offers a digital collection of World War II love letters. The collection includes more than 200 letters written between 1942 and 1945 by William Raymond Whittaker and Jane Dean. The letters were found in a family home and donated to the Metro Nashville Archives in 2016. Both writers had connections to Nashville through school and work. The letters show how the couple met at Meharry Medical College and stayed in contact after military service separated them during the war. The collection helps explain personal life in the United States during wartime.

The digital exhibit shows how archivists scanned and organized the letters to protect the originals. Library staff explain that new technology made it possible to share the letters online without damage. The project faced some difficulties, including little personal information and no living relatives to contact. Even so, the letters give useful information about work, marriage, and military life in the 1940s. Library officials say the online collection allows people around the world to learn from these historical records.