LETTERS: Correspondence to Hildur Coon, Trude Pratt, Joseph Lash, and others.
ER ET AL TO COON
Roosevelt, Eleanor and others. Correspondence mostly to Hildur Coon, from Eleanor Roosevelt, Trude Pratt (Mrs. Joseph Lash), Joseph Lash, and others. Washington DC, Nevada: 1941-1960.
An archive of 28 letters to student activist and feminist Hildur Coon. The letters include five from Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as two from her White House secretaries Malvina C. Thompson and Edith Helm, thirteen from the leading New York child welfare advocate and political activist Trude Pratt Lash, who was a close associate to Eleanor Roosevelt, and two from Trude Pratt Lash’s then husband, the Roosevelt biographer Joseph Lash. Additionally present are an expenses claim and a pictorial postcard of President Roosevelt. Most date from 1942-1945, with a few from 1951. All are near fine with modest age toning and tears from opening, some on White House stationery.
A collection of correspondence mostly to a representative to the US Student Assembly, Hildur Coon, these letters give a direct insight into Mrs. Roosevelt’s day-to-day responsibilities and schedule in a similar vein as her “My Day” column. In one letter dated March 11, 1943 she discusses her plan for the day, beginning at “11:00 o’clock with a meeting of the Women’s College Assembly of the University of Rochester. From 12:30 to 2:30 there will be a luncheon meeting with the United Youth Committee, at which there will be informal discussion concerning their own organization and its future possibilities for usefulness.” In a letter from July 24, 1943 Roosevelt writes to Hildur in regards to Trude coming to visit saying that “today even air travel is so uncertain,” presumably due to the stress on resources related to the War.
The correspondence contains political opinions expressed with the country in the middle of World War II. In one letter Joseph Lash describes how “the Republicans are certainly marked ‘lousy’ with the men overseas, and the nomination of Dewey will not help matters after his shenanigans with the serviceman’s ballot in N.Y. State.” He also discusses the establishment of the U.S.S.A. (United States Student Association) with Hildur, three years before an official meeting would happen. Hildur was an activist for both student’s rights, seeing education as a fundamental right for United States citizens, especially for females. Lash writes, “I’ve been fascinated and delighted with the way you “youngsters” have decided to push on with the U.S.S.A. It could accomplish really useful things if it has wise leadership.”
Trude Pratt (Lash) Trude, who served with the former First Lady on the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations, writes from Nevada where she was in the process of divorcing Joe Lash and awaiting a visit from Eleanor, asking Hildur of events on the East Coast displays special concern with potential labor strikes; “I would not be surprised if all kinds of labor trouble started now, just as the president predicted when he vetoes the Smith bill [War Labor Disputes Bill]. It will be all be stacked up against labor, but don’t you rebel a little.” A following letter from July 15, 1943 describes a day on the ranch with Mrs. Roosevelt.
An interesting collection of letters from some seminal females in politics, most dated during the war years, who shaped the budding mind of Hildur Coon.
Inventory:
Four typed letters signed from Eleanor Roosevelt to Hildur Coon
Two typed letters signed from Eleanor Roosevelt’s secretary to Hildur CoonOne typed letter signed from Eleanor Roosevelt to Mrs. Eugene Szerlip and Hildur Coon
Two letters, (one a typed letter signed, the other handwritten) from Joseph P. Lash to Hildur Coon Thirteen letters from Trude Pratt (aka Mrs. Joseph P. Lash) to Hildur Coon
Two handwritten letters from Mrs. Eliot D. Pratt
One TLS from Anna Roosevelt Boettier, associate editor of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, to Hildur Coon
One TLS from George Wenzel to Hildur Coon
(#4658239)
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