This is a collection of letters (as well as postcards and telegrams) written by Umberto Nobile in Joliet, Illinois and in Lockport, Illinois to Hermine Speier in Rome from January, 1940 to April, 1940. Having left two of Totosca’s puppies in Rochester with his cousin and his wife, Nobile is left with Totosca and one male puppy, both of whom he continues to portray as his preferred company during his stay in the States. In these letters, Nobile continues to keep Speier apprised of his social and professional outings, and he continues to discuss the topics that have so far featured prominently in his letters: Speier’s health, the weather, the books he and Speier are reading, and most of all postal delays and the extreme frustration and desperation they incite in him. It is evident that the postal delays are causing a great deal of insecurity in Speier during this period, as he spends a number of letters reassuring her that he is still writing to her as consistently as ever, and that he should not be faulted for the inability of the post to deliver those letters to her in a timely fashion. He continues to inquire about Maria, about whom he worries since she apparently does not contact him often. Totosca dies in April, much to Nobile’s sadness. In this folder, we see the first instances in which letters are beginning to be opened and read by censors – an indication of their censorship can be found on a strip of tape on the envelopes.