Polish immigrants privately taught each other how to navigate the unfamiliar city

Evidence

Sometimes the teaching was done privately, as when early twentieth century Polish immigrants to Chicago wrote to those back home who were preparing to make the same journey and instructed them in how to get along in a world of strangers: In another letter I will tell you everything, how it ought to be and how you ought to behave . — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 660

Categorization

• XREF: Concrete instance of strangers being rendered knowable — the letter instructs the newcomer how to present a legible identity, exactly the appearential-order work that Cole’s flâneur finds failing.
• SHARE: The specific 1918 letter advice is wonderfully specific — ‘give everywhere the same names that there may not be any trouble about names.’