CLARA BARTON SPEECHES & WRITINGS FILE Speeches & Writings by Others Books Barton, William E. The Life of Clara Barton Correspondences Feb 1921-Oct 1928The First Congregational Church TELEPHONE OAK PARK 27 Rev. WILLIAM E. BARTON. D.D., LL. D., PASTOR TELEPHONE OAK PARK 777 OAK PARK, ILLINOIS Feb. 24, 1921 Dear Stephen:- I am to turn in the manuscript of the two volumes on CLARA BARTON about the middle of April. I am now working on the revision. It seems to me to read pretty well. We have the essential things in it that we want. Whatever it does or fails to do it will show Clara Barton's eternal hono in the foundation and development of the American Red Cross and it will not name a single one of her opponents nor give them anything to reply to. Do you suppose it would be worth my while to go to Washington for a few days and try to see Dr. Hubbell? I tell me anything worth while or not. He knows the facts that I want, the little incidents that give a story life-blood. If there is anything you can give me of that sort let me have it as soon as you can. Cordially yours, Carla The First Congregational Church TELEPHONE OAK PARK 27 Rev. WILLIAM E. BARTON, D.D., LL. D., PASTOR TELEPHONE OAK PARK 777 OAK PARK, ILLINOIS April 9, 1921 Dear Stephen:- Your letter of the 7th is just received and I think you are entirely right about preserving the rejected papers for the present. I doubt very much if there is anything in them that we shall ever want, but it is just as well to be able to say nothing whatever has been destroyed. I think Houghton Mifflin Co. are right about cutting down the book. It is a hard task but they have formed a policy which is expressed in their biographies of John Fiske, Julia Ward Howe and John Hay. Hers will be as long as their. That is about as long as people will read. Lyman Abbott in his recent review of Harold Begbie's two-volume Life of General William Booth of the Salvation Army said, "The book would be twice as valuable if it were one-half as long." Begbie's book is none too long so far as covering the events of General Booth's life, but it is long enough to discourage the average reader. It is cruelly hard to cut out perfectly good material, but I am having to do it. One cannot do everything in two volumes and there are just two things I am trying to do: First, to show the real Clara Barton and second to make it impossible for anyone who knows the truth to see the Red Cross without thinking of her. If i do those two things we shall have to sacrifice much tha is incidental. By all means call at my son's house and see the oil painting when you are in New York. I do not suppose we shall ever know how Henry A. Loop happened to paint Clara Barton's picture. But the evidence of its genuineness is all that we could expect and it is a beautiful picture. Cordially yours, William E. Barton[*Bruce Barton*] [* The pictures of C. B. portrait*] April 27, 1921 Dear Mr. Gibbs:- I promised you the manuscript for the second volume of the Life of Clara Barton before the end of April and have pleasure in sending to you today by express, together with photographs for illustrations and two half tones. It would gratify me very much if I could read proofs of this before I start for the National Council, June 28. Is your strike at all likely to permit this? One photograph which I intend as a frontispiece of Volume I I have sent to Stephen E. Barton, 60 Congress Street, Boston. You will receive it from him. It is a photograph of an oil painting of Clara Barton and has never been used before. I am writing to him today and am suggesting that his niece, Miss Riccius of Worcester, who has been my [most] indispensable assistant in sorting and sifting the material in its completed form, and catch any corrections which she may note. I would rather that the manuscript should not now go out of your office until it is in type. Cordially yours, Dr. Wm E. Barton Mr. Herbert R. Gibbs c/o Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass. [*Newton North - 2496 M*]The First Congregational Church TELEPHONE OAK PARK 27 REV. WILLIAM E. BARTON, D.D., LL.D., PASTOR TELEPHONE OAK PARK 777 OAK PARK, ILLINOIS May 5, 1921. Dear Stephen:- Thank you very heartily for your letter. I sincerely hope your trip to Washington is the last which you will need to take of that kind. It seems to me a shameful thing that a woman like Clara Barton should have been preyed upon by so many false friends. In the goodness of her heart sher permitted herself to be imposed upon. As to the matter of compensation in lieu of royalty on the first edition, I think that you and I fully understand each other. The task of writing a Life of Clara Barton has been a difficult one largely because the material for it has been so abundant. While I have not worked at it constantly, it has been more or less of a care for something over five years. I suppose that $500 a year would not be far from the commercial value of the labor and sense of responsibility, but what I have done has been done with very little thought of remuneration. If Houghton-Mifflin Company had told me that they could pay no royalty and you had told me that the entire resources of the estate had been exhausted I should have no regret nor wish to have done otherwise. I have never looked upon it as a commercial undertaking and I do not and shall not now. Whatever there is left in the estate will be a very paltry payment to you for all your love and sacrifice. You have earned it a hundred times over and whatever you send to me in lieu of royalties for the first edition will be a generous act on your part. I hope your Washington suit will close that part of your experience and that you may be completely successful. Cordially yours, William E. Barton May 12, 1921. My dear Cousin:- We have arranged with Mr. Gibbs that as soon as the manuscript is set in print he is to send some galley proof to you and some to me. I am to make my corrections, if any, at once and send my proof to you so that our corrections will not conflict with each other and you are to forward to Mr. Gibbs the final proof. Mr. Allen says that the picture department thinks the pictures, facsimile etc. should be limited to eight in each volume, while we have about thirty all told. It is difficult to say which ones to cut out. Look over your list and see what you have to advise. We think nearly all should be included. Perhaps you can get them to change their views and include more than sixteen. Mr. Gibbs says the strike has tied up almost everything at their shops and how long it will last he does not know, but they are getting some work clandestinely done outside. He wants to have the work completed and ready to put on the market by the first of November. Where are you going to be this summer? Cordially, S.F. Riecuis P.S. by S.F. R. Mr. Allen has not received the photographs of the decorations or of Uncle Steve. Did you receive them?May 16, 1921. Dear Stephen:- I am very glad of your arrangement with Mr. Gibbs about the two sets of galley proof. That is just right. Make your corrections, send them to me and we will send one set of proof sheets so that there shall be no conflict of judgment at the publishers. I was hoping we could have read the proofs in May and June, for I spend this summer on the Pacific Coast. I go to the National Council at Los Angeles, leaving here June 28. Mrs. Barton accompanies me. The cutting down of the list of pictures is an embarrassment. There are none that I do not wish to have in; indeed, I have two more recently received from Saidee, one containing a group of Clara Barton's decorations, and the other a portrait of one of her relatives which I do not wish on any account to omit. Cordially yours, The First Congregational Church REV. WILLIAM E. BARTON, D.D., LL., D., Pastor MRS. GRACE E. MAYER-OAKES, Director of Religious Education MISS ZILPHA LLOYD, Pastor's Secretary CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH HOUSE Lake Street and Kenilworth Avenue TELEPHONE OAK PARK 27 OAK PARK, ILLINOIS May 31, 1921. SS Dear Stephen:- I have a letter from Houghton Mifflin saying that they have gone over with you and Saidee the matter of the illustrations and have reached a conclusion satisfactory to you two. This is entirely agreeable to me. I am sorry not to include the oil painting by Luke. I agree with you that the mouth is not her mouth. He must have idealized it, but it is an attractive picture, unpublished, and there would seem no reasonable doubt of its genuineness. I wish, however, that the selection of pictures shall wholly meet your approval, and this I want to be true of the entire book. If I can show in this book that Clara Barton was a truly great and good woman and the sole founder of the American Red Ross, I do not care very much for anything else. I have not heard from you since you returned from Washington. I hope your suit was entirely successful. Cordially yours, William E. Barton.The First Congregational Church Rev.William E. Barton, D.D., LL., D., Pastor Mrs, Grace E. Mayer-Oakes, Director of Religious Education Miss Zilpha Lloyd, Pastor's Secretary Congregational Church House Lake Street and Kenilworth Avenue Telephone Oak Park 27 Oak Park, Illinois June 11, 1921 Dear Cousin Stephen:- Houghton-Mifflin Co. write me that the strike still continues and that I shall not be able to get the proofs before going to California. I am sorry for this for I would have liked much to read the proof this spring. However, that is a small item. Mrs. Barton and I are leaving Oak Park on Tuesday, June 28, for the National Council of Congregational Churches to be held in Los Angeles for eight dates, July 1-8, and we are to spend the rest of the summer in California and on the Pacific Coast. It will be a convenience to me if you can without inconvenience to yourself send me before you go the check of which you have already written. I hope you will have a very happy summer and that the book will give you much satisfaction. Cordially yours, Rohan. Barton The First Congregational Church Rev. William E. Barton, D, D., LL., D., Pastor Mrs, Grace E. Mayer-Oakes, Director of Religious Education Miss Zilpha Lloyd, Pastor's Secretary Congregational Church House Lake Street and Kenilworth Avenue Telephone Oak Park 27 Oak Park, Illinois June 22, 1921. Received from Stephen E. Barton, Executor of the Estate of Clara Barton, deceased, $500 cash and one $500 Liberty Bond, first issue converted, #D 00162564, account of labor and expense preparing for publication of the Life of Clara Barton, Founder and First President of the American Red Cross. Rohan. BartonThe First Congregational Church REV. WILLIAM E. BARTON, D.D., LL. D., Pastor MRS. GRACE E. MAYER-OAKES, Director of Religious Education MISS ZILPHA LLOYD, Pastor's Secretary CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH HOUSE Lake Street and Kenilworth Avenue TELEPHONE OAK PARK 27 OAK PARK, ILLINOIS Feb. 22, 1922 Dear Saidee:- By this time you will have seen the two volumes of the Life of Clara Barton, and I hope you like their appearance. The content you have already seen and read, but you will read it with a new interest now that it is in type and between covers. Without your help I never could have done this work. I think we have succeeded in telling essentially the things that needed to be told and making a permanent record of Clara Barton's great service to humanity. Thank you for your very important part of it. Sincerely yours, Reverand E. Barton February 25, 1922. My dear Dr. Barton: - I have just finished the two volumes of the "Life of Clara Barton", which we secured the first of the week. I have read them with as much real interest and anthusiasm as if I had never seen them before, and when I remember the tremendous accumulation of vital material you had to boil down, I feel deeply grateful to you for avolving such a complete and truthful biography of Aunt Clara, so charmingly and cleverly written. I shall watch with greatest interest the book reviews as they appear. The first supply of the books disappeared immediately, but I see that larger quantities are now on hand at our local stores. Hermann seems very optimistic for I see him making marginal notes, presumably for a second printing. When you are in the east again we will want you to autograph the sat for us. I thank you very much for your expressions of appreciation of the past I was able to contribute to the work. Sincerely, Saidas F. Riccius April 1, 1922 Dear Brother Stephens - I have very happy memories of your visit. You and I must lose no opportunity of seeing each other in the days that are before us. The day after you were here I took a hurried look through the pile of manuscript and sorted out the items which I should like to retain. The rest I packed and went to Saidee and I will send her a carbon copy of this letter. Most of the material which I have sent to her consists of copies of manuscripts which she already has and the file is incomplete for I cut and used it as freely as was necessary in the preparation of the book. However, there are portions of this which are in good condition and which should be sorted up and saved. Originally all this was sorted chronologically and topically. In the various handlings it is more or less mixed. I made no attempt to resort it for I knew Saidee would have to go over it item by item and any labor I might send upon it would be wasted. Neither did I attempt to remove all my own notes and correspondence with her and that she will find in it. When I ran across material of this sort I took it out, but what remains is probably of no value and she may destroy my notes or correspondence of my own unless she finds something which she thinks ought to be saved among the material which I returned, however, is some of very great value. There are four original diaries of Clara Barton and a good many letters addressed to her; also a very few of her own first drafts of her own letters. Her first copy book is in this package: also her first school geography and some other matter of this kind. I have returned also the unused portion of the typewritten copy of the second section of her autobiography. I am not attempting a complete list, and I was too busy to give this at this time as thorough as examination as I should have been glad, but I thought well while I had it out to finish up the matter, select the items which I may have occasion to refer to and so desire to keep and place the rest where it should be. It occurs to me to add that in the material which I returned is quite a lot of her own memoragda and confidential correspondence at the time of investigation; and also a good deal about the Blue Anchor and other rival organizations.And now with profound thanks to God that we have been able to see this through and with appreciation of the splendidly royal way in which you have done your part of the work, I am, Affectionately yours, William E. Barton I expect to [?] in Piedmont [?] Aug. 6 and 13.Dec. 11, 1923. Rev. William E. Barton, Oak Park, Ill. My dear William E., I noticed yesterday through an advertisement by Lauriat & Co., Boston, that they were selling the two volumes at $3.75. This morning I went to see Mr. Linscott of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. He was not aware of the Lauriat sale, but made inquiry and found that one hundred copies had been sold to Lauriat at a very much reduced price. I had just ordered two copies to be sent to a couple of friends on the basis of the $10. price less one-third. Mr. Linscott is to let me know if he can sell the books to me at the price that Lauriat offers them. The thought occurred to me that if we could get them at $3.75, with possibly some discount from that reduced price, you would like to have ten or a dozen additional copies for Christmas. If that is so, please advise me and I shall take pleasure in ordering them sent to you. The Lauriat advertisement is very well written up. Perhaps you have seen it or may see it. I left my copy with Linscott Yours sincerely, SKB: C Mr. Carter of Houghton-Mifflin's has just 'phoned me that he will (?) have a limited number at $3.75 and I have requested him to send sets to you at that price and send the bill to me. He said of course that price there could be no royalty. I told him that need not trouble mind because there was no royalty anyway until the book had paid for (?)lf, and then he replied that he thought the royalty need not trouble minds either. Oct. 27, 1928. Mr. C.J. Mar, Pres., Publishers Press Syndicate, #475 Fifth Avenue, New York City, N.Y. Dear Mr. Mar: - The delay in replying to your letter of the 8th inst. has been due to the fact that I have been, through illness, confined to my home for about four months. I am pleased to say now that the Biography of Clara Barton, by "Rev. E.H. Epler" published by McMillan, is available so that I am able to send you, by mail, a copy, which you may retain permanently in your files. As to the two volume Biography by "Dr. William E. Barton" published by Houghton & Mifflin, that is entirely out of print and only two or three copies available. I am sending you my own two volumes, which I shall be pleased to loan to you to be returned to me without fail, as soon as you may have finished with them. I am sure that these two Biographies will supply you with all the information that you may require. There is, of course, a vast amount of material pertaining to her long life's activities, but practically everything is embodied in the two Biographies. I should like very much to hear from you as your good work proceeds. I received a very dear letter quite recently from Mr. Edson. Very truly yours, SEB/O