LETTER: ALS to Mrs. John Townsend.
Blake, Lillie Devereux. Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs. John Townsend, New York: April 8, 1886.
Single sheet: 8-1/2 x 11,” on New York State Woman Suffrage Association lined letterhead with Lillie Devereux Blake, President and Matilda Joslyn Gage and Susan B. Anthony, Vice-Presidents at Large—an early and scarce example of New York State Suffrage Association letterhead; folded to fit an envelope; reinforcement at reverse along center fold; pencil note in an unknown hand at blank corner of verso. Very good in custom-made case.
This letter vividly reflects Blake’s rhetorical style. Mrs. Townsend has requested the use of her name in connection with a gala to raise funds for a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. Mrs. Blake answers:
I am in receipt of your favor of the 3rd asking for the use of my name in a call for a public entertainment to be given for the purpose of raising money for the purpose of completion of the pedastal [sic] for the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty. You are welcome to its use, as while it seems to me utterly absurd to represent Liberty as a woman in a nation where no woman is politically free, I look upon this statue as an emblem and an omen of the time when the daughters of the Republic will be indeed fitting representatives of Liberty. As you ladies are thus kindly assisting the committee in raising money, I trust you will suggest to them the propriety of having some women to take part in the ceremonies of the unveiling & dedication of the Statue.
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