LETTER: Autograph letter signed to "My Dear Friend" Mrs. M.J. Henderson, January 7, 1890. With a letter by Lucy Anthony and related items.
Martha Henderson, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy E. Anthony
On women’s rights conferences, Suffrage Association meetings,
and Anna Howard Shaw
Correspondence, invitations, and related paperwork
Anthony, Susan B. Autograph Letter Signed “Susan B. Anthony” to “My Dear Friend” [Mrs. M.J. Henderson]. Washington D.C., 01/07/1890; one leaf; 5 ¾ x 9 inches; black ink on “National Woman Suffrage Association of the United States” stationery; creased where folded from mail; with original mailing envelope.
Anthony writes to Henderson on woman’s delegate details and travel accommodations for Henderson’s upcoming visit to Washington D.C. Her short note reads, in full:
$2.50 apiece is the price of the Riggs--& I do not believe you can do much better even at a 2d or 3d rate hotel – Your Club ought to be entitled to one or more delegates – provided it is auxiliary to the NY state[…]but come anyway and help get things fixed right for next year.
The housing option Anthony suggests to Henderson in her letter, “the Riggs,” was the Riggs House, a prominent hotel in Washington D.C. in the late-19th century. The hotel’s owner, Caleb W. Spofford, was a supporter of women's suffrage, and as a result women such as Anthony, Phoebe Couzins, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were frequent guests.
Martha Henderson (1820-1898) served as Vice-President of the Executive Board of the New York State Woman’s Suffrage Association from Jamestown, New York, and was the founder and first president of Chautauqua County’s Political Equality Club, a grassroots organization devoted to winning the woman’s right to vote in New York. Chautauqua County was at the time considered to be one of the suffrage movement’s most well-organized counties in the United States, with 25 local clubs within county borders and more than 1400 members in all (Langworthy, Traci. “Making Women's History: Chautauqua County and the Suffrage Movement.” Lecture Transcript. Jamestown Community College. 2009).
(with):
Anthony, Lucy E. Autograph Letter Signed “Lucy E. Anthony” to “Mrs. Henderson.” Philadelphia, 09/12/1889; two leaves; 5 ¾ x 9 inches; black ink on “National Woman Suffrage Association of the United States” stationery; writing on all sides; creased where folded from mail.
Lucy E. Anthony, Susan B. Anthony’s niece and the secretary to Anna Howard Shaw, responds to Henderson’s earlier letter regarding Shaw’s upcoming travel arrangements to Jamestown, New York, where she was invited to speak. In her letter, Anthony requests that Henderson’s club pay half of Shaw’s train fare and looks into scheduling another nearby meeting at which Shaw could speak. Anthony’s letter to Henderson reads, in part:
Yours regarding Miss Shaw just arrived. I cannot tell you positively just [yet] whether she can come to Jamestown at the time you suggest and work. Can let you know as soon as I hear from one or two parties with whom dates are pending. The world [?] has to make a special trip to Jamestown from Philadelphia – making it so expensive for her. If your club could pay the RR fare one way besides her fee $20 – I think she could come …what think you? As could you make her another engagement in your vicinity. I am very anxious that she should attend the Jamestown meeting both for your sakes and hers…I do hope some arrangement may be made – I am sure you could not get a better speaker for your convention…As I am Miss Shaw’s secretary – your [letter went] to the right person…
Lucy E. Anthony, the daughter of Susan B. Anthony’s brother Jacob Merritt Anthony, was secretary and companion to Anna Shaw for more than 30 years, and whom she lived with in Pennsylvania from 1903 to 1919. (“The Anna Howard Shaw Papers.” The University of North Carolina at Greensboro).
(with):
Greenleaf, Jean Brooks. Invitation to Martha Henderson for New York State Woman’s Suffrage Association Executive Board Meeting; May 1891; recto only; page partially severed at folds but intact; with original mailing envelope.
One hand-addressed printed leaf requesting Henderson’s attendance at an upcoming New York Suffrage Association board meeting, with autograph notes detailing location (“Headquarters, Whitcomb House”), date sent (“Apr. 6th/91”), and RSVP. The note reads, “Your name is on the list of Vice-Presidents of the NY State Suffrage Association for Chautauqua County, and it is necessary that an effort be made toward organizing your County.” It goes on to elaborate Henderson’s requirement to “inform us regarding the state of public sentiment in your County, number of Suffrage Societies…” and to “Communicate with the various Towns of your County, and seek to awaken an interest in the suffrage cause by securing space in one or more local papers and see that it is supplied with suffrage items and news of interest.”
(with):
[The Southern Passenger Association.] Sample of the Certificate of the Southern Passenger Association’s “Instructions to Delegates” Form. ND.; page partially severed at folds but intact; printed on both sides.
One printed form providing “Instructions to Delegates” on the process by which one should purchase and expect reimbursement for railroad fares when traveling for meetings or conventions, with blanks for signatures and travel details. With four lines of autograph notes on the verso in an unknown hand providing further instructions on travel details, one reading. “You can get return ticket for our price if you’re going out[?] – you will see [to?] this.” The recto has printed red “Sample” logo across the text, indicating it “should not be used.”
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