LETTERS: 8 ALS, 1 TLS, to her nephew; two other Anthony family letters.
Anthony to Her Nephew
on Marriage, “Manliness,” and Family Matters
Anthony, Susan B. Eight autograph letters, one typed letter signed, “Susan B. Anthony,” to her nephew Burt Luther Anthony, April 2, 1900 – September 2, 1905; with an undated letter to Burt from his mother, and another letter, 1955, from his sister Ann Anthony Bacon (“Anna O.”).
11 leaves, 20 pages; all save one on NAWSA letterhead listing Anthony as President; the other on letterhead of The Leavenworth Times; creased where folded for mailing; original envelopes, addressed and franked, also present; together with an autograph note from his mother expressing concern that she gave him a revolver; and a 1955 letter from his sister Anna O. (on Ann Anthony Bacon letterhead), referencing her time living with “the aunts”; also present is a 16mo printed broadside, “Greetings” to Anthony by Harriot Stanton Blatch, to the Lafayette Opera House, Washington, D.C., February 15, 1900. In a specially made quarter-morocco slipcase with the additional items.
Anthony writes to Burt Luther Anthony with a progression of salutations, addressing him first as “My Dear Nephew,” then “Nephew Luther B.,” “Nephew Burt Luther Anthony,” “Nephew B.L.A,” “Nephew Burt Luther A.” “My dear Nephew R. [sic] Luther Anthony, “Burt L.A.,” “B.L.A,” and, finally, “Dear Nephew.” Despite these intimacies, she signs each letter in full, “Susan B. Anthony.” In these letters she lets loose her thoughts on marriage and “manliness” in between gossipy updates on Anthony family matters and notes on her work for the National Council of Women and NAWSA. She gently chastises her nephew for not keeping well in touch—when she’s not thanking him for letters he did write—and she encourages him to visit and to write whenever he is able, not just to her but to his mother, as well.
The first letter, the only one typed rather than written by hand, is dated April 2, 1900, and is written in response to a letter from Burt: “Your good letter of March 11th came duly. It was really a very excellent report of yourself that you made at that date. You are doing almost as nicely as you little cousin, Guelma Baker.” She then fills out a paragraph with details of the stage work of Burt’s young female counterpart, a successful actress. She adds, “I wish your sister, Anna O., had succeeded in gaining the approbation of her employers so as to be on the way to an upper seat in her synagogue, as you and Guelma seem to be in yours.” She concludes with thoughts on how he might best conduct himself as a man, drawing on Guelma’s example, supplemented with her own uxorious advice:
You are quite right in making a careful study of your first presentation of yourself to strangers…. This does not mean to dress like a dandy or behave like a fop, but it does mean to be clean and polite and gentlemanly. There are but few things necessary for you to reach the height of your avocation, and those are the strictest integrity, patience and perseverance, and continuance in what I hope are now your fully established habits of eschewing the so-called pet vices of men.
The typed conclusion to this letter reads, rather impersonally, “Very sincerely yours.” Anthony has crossed out “sincerely” and written “affectionately” above it, adding “I guess will do better,” and also crosses out the “s” in “yours” and adds the word, “Aunt.”
On May 20, 1900, she thanks Burt for his letter of “the 12th,” writes of her travel plans with other players in the feminist movement, and invites Burt to join them when they visit Philadelphia:
Miss Shaw & Mrs. Catt are to be with me—and we are all to stay with dear Mrs. Emma J. [D?]artal—at 1900 Spruce Street—during the Republication Convention—we had a good weeks visit from darling Louise—you all call her Helen—& shall visit her—but she expects to get the James to go out to the Friends Meeting with us—so it will be nice for you to be there too—Any way I shall look forward to seeing you there
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