The author deals with the relation between private and public in emigrant correspondence from theoretical and practical aspects. He analyses a series of Slovene emigrant correspondences from the 19th and 20th centuries, and publishes 4 cases of letters that reflect different types of private and public letters. The author reveals a wide range of emigrant correspondence in which private interlaces with public, content with formal. Most transparent categories are the so-called private family letter as a case of private, and open letter as a case of for the public only intended letter.