<date>

Mr./Mrs/Miss/Dr. <full name>

<street address>

St. Louis, MO <zipcode>

Dear <name>,

Thank you so much for taking time out today to talk to me on the phone. Personal information about your neighborhood is vitally important to preserve, expressly because neighborhoods are by nature personal.

As I explained, the Missouri Historical Society is carrying out a research project entitled People and Place in 20th-Century St. Louis. This study looks at selected neighborhoods in the metropolitan region. My class at UM-St. Louis is part of this project, and we are covering the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood this semester.

We hope to speak to as many residents as possible over the next few weeks to gather stories about Skinker-DeBaliviere. My talk with you was a beginning. We hope to ask some of you if we may come and interview you more fully on tape, either in your home or in a local community space. Once the Skinker-DeBaliviere area research is completed, we hope to provide the local library copies of all of our oral history research, giving back to your community what you have provided us.

I appreciate your assistance in this project.. If you have any questions or further information to share, please feel free to call me at the number below.

Respectfully,

<interviewer's name>

<interviewer's phone number>