LETTER: Typed letter signed, "Frances Willard" to "Mrs. J.H. Booth."
TYPED LETTER SIGNED
Willard, Frances A. Typed Letter Signed “Frances Willard” to “Mrs. J.H. Booth.” Atlantic City, New Jersey. 04/19/1897; one onionskin leaf “World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union” stationery; recto only; creased where folded.
Willard, the President of the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, writes to Mrs. Booth, “my dear Sister,” in response to a lecture request. She kindly turns down the offer, “…I heartily wish it were possible for me to send an affirmative reply to a request I highly value. My plans for the winter are however too uncertain to allow me to do this…”
Willard (1839-1898) was an American suffragist, teacher, and prohibition advocate who played active roles in the passing of both the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments. In response to defining the modern woman’s role in society, she coined the slogan “Do Everything” for the WCTU, which Willard undoubtedly applied to her own life, affirmed by the above request, which came during the last year of her life. At the height of her career, in the 1870s, Willard averaged 30,000 miles traveled and 400 lectures delivered per year for a ten-year period.
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