Dear Medwyn Parry, See above - When this has happened to me in the past, I usually use the greeting, "Dear [first name] [last name]," rather than the informal "Dear [first name]" or guessing at "Dear Mr./Ms. [last name]" and maybe being wrong. I have no idea whether August is male or female - Good luck! Amy Filiatreau, CA Archivist AA World Services, Inc. 212-870-2568 [log in to unmask] ________________________________ From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Shirley S Albright Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 9:26 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: male or female? Dear Medwyn, "August" is usually a female name, but anything goes today. In the absence of other clues, what would be so impolite about just addressing the person as "Dear August"? It may not be a formal greeting, but the very nature of 'it's' request seems to indicate formality isn't an issue - getting information IS. I have the same problem with arriving inquiries from asian, african..... or even Welsh constitutents :-) Shirley Albright A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>