Catt, Carrie Chapman GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Harper, Ida H. September 20, 1920. My dear Mrs. Catt: I did not know until a few minutes ago that the Leslie Commission was to meet today. As I talked over the History so fully with you last week you will be able to make my report. When I met with the Commission July 15 I said that there were 14 States from which I had not been able to get a line for their chapters. Since then I have received the manuscripts from six, --New York, Virginia, Mississippi, Arizona, Montana and Oregon. I know that from Washington is about finished and Massachusetts is well under way. This leaves Maine, Connecticut, New Jersey, South Carolina, [and] Georgia and Ohio with nothing, but work is under way on all but Ohio. Mrs. McCormick's chapter is en route from Europe. Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. Shuler have not reported. Mrs. Catt has not yet had time to read the International chapter and the ten of her administration, which she is to do before they are revised for printing. I think that within a few weeks all the chapters will be in my hands but there will be a good deal of work for me to do on them. Five have been sent back to be entirely re-written and every one of the others has required the sending of dozens of questions to supply the missing Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission, Inc. Carrie Chapman Catt, President Bureau of Suffrage Education Rose Young, Director Department of Field Press Work Mrs. Rose Lawless Geyer, Chariman Telephone: 4818 Murray Hill 171 Madison Avenue New York, links. By November 1 I hope to be able to estimate how much more time will be required, with my continuing to work day and night and Sunday, as I have done from the first. It cannot be less than two months. As I said to you, I shall not expect any further salary from the Commission after November 1, and I think they have been most generous. Sincerely yours, Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission, Inc. Carrie Chapman Catt, President Bureau of Suffrage Education Rose Young, Director Department of Field Press Work Mrs. Rose Lawless Geyer, Chairman Telephone: 4818 Murray Hill 171 Madison Avenue New York, January 3, 1921. My dear Mrs. Catt: In my report made to the Leslie Commission of November 1st. I said that while the History would not be finished by January 1st, I thought it would be so far along that I could make a statement as to when it would be since the date I have worked on it night and day-- I do not believe that anybody in the city of New York has worked as many hours out of each twenty-four, including Saturdays and Sundays, as I have. This time has all been spent on the State chapters and the situation in regard to them is as follows: From three states I have not had a line--Conneticut, Massachusetts, Ohio. Mrs. Porritt sent something about the organization work but it was very unsatisfactory and she asked me to return it and let her re-write it. Miss Luddington assured me that the moment the election was over she would get to work on her part of the Conneticut chapter. Two months after the election I have not had a word from either Mrs. Porritt or Miss. Luddington. Miss Blackwell has regularly asked me for extensions of time since last March and I have answered just as regularly that I felt sure she was doing a vast amount of work that would have to be cut out but that I would wait for her as long as I possibly could. Mrs. Upton, who gave me an absolute written promise that I should have her chapter in January, 1920, has never sent a line. I have appealed to her so many times that at last she has practically asked me not to write her again on the subject. I outlined the way in which Miss Hauser could write almost the whole of it from their little bulletin and it would be only necessary for Mrs. Upton to give her view of the campaign and legislative work but she answered that she wished to arite the chapter herself. --2-- I have an immense amount of material from Washington, which I have written to Dr. King must be condensed about three-fourths, and she has asked me to wait until the middle of January when Mrs. De Voe will be here and will help her in the condensing. Mrs. Keith has sent a large bunch of everything she could collect from anybody in California, out of which I must piece up some kind of a chapter. There is a mass of incoherent stuff here from Texas, which seems almost hopeless. Mrs. Feickert and Dr. Hussey still hang fire in New Jersey but I think will finally come to time. With these exceptions every State chapter except Louisiana has been read, has been carefully dissected, scores of questions sent back for missing links and, in most cases, returned properly answered. Every one of the States has required from half a dozen to twenty-five or thirty letters. If it had not been for these chapters the book would have been ready for the publishers last summer. Without these chapters it would have comparatively little value. I could have put up with the fact that most of the women were amateur writers if they would have answered my letters and done the best they could, but I have never in my life met with such indifference and discourtesy. On the other hand, a few of the chapters have been models in every respect and a delight to read, and a few of the women have been so willing and anxious to meet every requirement that any short-comings could be easily forgiven. The chapters as finished are very complete and give an account of the remarkable progress of the suffrage movement in the different States for the last twenty years with the valuable changes that have been made in the Laws. I consider them by far the most important part of the book and that is why I have put so much time on them. --3-- From now on the progress ought to be much more rapid, for instead of putting in most of the time in the effort to obtain information, I can utilize it in condensing and whipping the chapters into shape, which can be much more rapidly done. One might say: "Don't be so particular, just put the chapters in as they come." If this had been done I certainly should never have allowed my name to be connected with the book , as they would not have been worth the paper they were written on. What could be done in the case of chapters that, in spite of all the instructions that were given, contained three, or four, or five times as many words as could be allowed? Should they have been cut into that many parts and just one of them used? Take, for instance, Mrs. McCormick's chapter on the suffrage war work. She was told that she might have 5,000 or 6,000 words. She sent me from Europe 22,000, with many places marked where a great deal of other material had to be inserted, which I was to look up. There are a dozen cases like this. They simply mean days of work on my part in the way of condensation. From Mrs. Rogers I have not had a line although the material was furnished her the first of last April. She writes me that she is now working on her chapter. I cannot sufficiently express my appreciation of the assistance which I have received from Mrs. Shuler. It has been like a life-preserver thrown to a drowning person. She is one of the very few who has shown an appreciation of the kind of work that was required, the ability to do it and the rare quality of keeping her word. I am indebted also to Marjorie Shuler for valuable assistance. It is alsolutely impossible to make an accurate estimate of the time that will be required for historical writing, as one may spend half an hour hunting a date or a name, and when one has to deal with about sixty- --4-- five different persons, as I have done, the complications become even more serious. I should never have tried to make an estimate but I based it on Volume IV, where the conditions of writing were totally different in every respect. This volume will be superior to that one in many ways. I cannot, even now, estimate how much longer it will require but as my material is now practically all at hand, it seems to me that the writing of the book ought to be finished within the next two months, as I am a very rapid worker when I have everything at hand. The delay has been much harder on me than on any one else and if I had anticipated the experience I have had, no money, pride or love of "the cause" would have tempted me to undertake it, but having begun it, there was no honorable way in which I could give it up and so I have endeavored to struggle through it and if I live I shall succeed. As far as the Leslie Commission is concerned, there is but one thing I can do, and that id to finish the book without further salary. I have made that offer in good faith ever since I failed to fulfill my contract and I now make it again. I feel the warmest gratitude for the continuance of my salary six months beyond the time agreed upon and I feel that the Commission has far more than fulfilled its obligations. I am entirely willing to keep on until the book is finished without any further salary and shall take just as much time as is necessary, exactly the same as if I were being paid in full. I cannot allow the quality of my work to suffer. If the Commission feels inclined to assist me with the office rent and secretary, it will be a great relief, but if not, I shall have to arrange insome way to meet this expense myself. With my highest personal regards for the members of the Commission and my appreciation of their courtesy and kindness, I remain Very sincerely yours, Martha Washington Hotel, January 19, 1921. My dear Mrs. Catt: I will try to find time to read over the last two National chapters and have them for you at the Headquarters on Friday. Next week I will begin reading those of the first four years of your administration, as I presume you will want to look over them. I am not losing any time in following up these dilatory women who are writing the State chapters. That of Connecticut is promised me this week. Miss Blackwell writes that she has enlisted the services of Mrs. Teresa Crowley, as she found it utterly impossible to finish her chapter without assistance. She says that her health is miserable and her eyesight is very poor. This leaves only Ohio without a chapter. Mrs. Upton has moved to Washington, as I suppose you know, and Miss Hauser writes me that she took a box of material with her, out of which she expects to prepare her chapter. It was promised positively January 1, 1920. Questionnaires are out to a number of the writers of these chapters for further information but I think I see the end of them and I have earned a high seat in heaven in my effort to get them. Please see that the West Virginia chapter reaches me safely and, when convenient, put the two copies of The Suffragist containing the matter about the busts in my box on the switch-board. You never answered my letter about Doubleday, Page & Co. As ever, yours, The Dt. chaps are much more complete than those in Val. IV and I wrote 2,000 letters to get them and a little more information. LESLIE WOMAN SUFFRAGE COMMISSION, INC. CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT, PRESIDENT BUREAU OF SUFFRAGE EDUCATION ROSE YOUNG, DIRECTOR DEPARTMENTS FIELD PRESS WORK ROSE LAWLESS GEYER, CHAIRMAN NEWS MARJORIE SHULER, CHAIRMAN MAGAZINE DEPARTMENT THE WOMAN CITIZEN DEPARTMENTS FEATURES MARY OGDEN WHITE, CHAIRMAN RESEARCH MARY SUMNER BOYD, CHAIRMAN TELEPHONE: 4818 MURRAY HILL 48I 171 Madison Avenue NEW YORK, November 24, 1920 My dear Mrs. Harper: I want to beg your pardon for not writing you the action of the Leslie Commission when it held its meeting November 11th. We found on looking up the minutes of the last meeting that your time had been extended to January 1921, but Mrs. Catt had failed to inform you, so that we did not have to take any action in regard to that. The Leslie Commission did, however, vote to pay you your salary for November and December in addition to extending the time of your work to that date, so November's and December's salary will be given to you. If you have to have an extension of time for finishing up the work it will have to be taken up at another meeting when Mrs. Catt returns. I am only writing you now in regard to the action of the last board/which settled the salary question. meeting Again begging your pardon for not doing it at once, I am Yours sincerely, Mary Garrett Hay MD MGH/D Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Martha Washington Hotel, New York City LESLIE WOMAN SUFFRAGE COMMISSION, INC. PRESIDENT CARRIE CHAPMAN CAT VICE-PRESIDENT MARY GARRETT HAY SECRETARY AND TREASURER NORA NEWELL DIRECTORS MRS. ARTHUR L. LIVERMORE . . . . NEW YORK MRS. PERCY V. PENNYBACKER . . . . TEXAS DIRECTORS MRS. RAYMOND ROBINS . . . . . . ILLINOIS MRS. HARRIET TAYLOR UPTON . . . . OHIO MRS. THOMAS B. WELLS . . . . . NEW YORK TELEPHONE: 4818 MURRAY HILL 171 Madison Avenue NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 1920. Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Martha Washington Hotel, New York City. Dear Mrs. Harper:- At the meeting of the Leslie Commission held on November 11th, it was voted to continue your salary for November and December, the rent of the room at the Martha Washington Hotel also to be continued until January 1st, 1921. At the meeting on Sept. 20th it was voted to continue the salary of a stenographer and incidental expenses up to January 1st, but it seems we failed to notify you. I am enclosing a check for your October salary. Sincerely, Eleanor Bates EHB/AM Martha Washington Hotel, November 18, 1920. Miss Eleanor Bates, 171 Madison Avenue, New York City. My dear Miss Bates: I have received your note with the check, for which many thanks. I am glad to know that my salary is to be continued until January 1st. In my letter to the Commission I said that the work would not be finished at that time but I hoped that it would be far enough along so that I could fix the time for the end of it. I appreciate their generosity and will try to deserve it. Sincerely yours, Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission, Inc. President Carrie Chapman Catt Vice-President Mary Garrett Hay Directors Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore....New York Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker....Texas Telephone: 4818 Murray Hill Secretary and Treasurer Nora Newell Directors Mrs. Raymond Robins......Illinois Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton....Ohio Mrs. Thomas B. Wells.....New York 171 Madison Avenue New York, November 6, 1920 My dear Mrs. Harper: I have personally read your letter with much interest. The Leslie Commission meeting was not called, as you apparently thought it was to be. A meeting will be held on Thursday, the 11th, at which time I will present your report. I write, however, in advance to say that it will be impossible for us to receive you and your secretary in this office as we are still overcrowded. If our rooms were smaller we could get in more workers but as we are partitioned, it is impossible now. So go ahead and know that we will continue the arrangement until January first, as you suggest. My boat which was to sail on the 11th, got held up for a lack of coal on the other side and, therefore, I shall not sail until the 18th and will not be back until about Christmas time. We will report on other things later. You keep alluding to some work I am to do for the History. I have said over and over again that I would do nothing except to write a foreword, if you so desire. Sincerely yours, CCC/D Carrie Chapman Catt MD Martha Washington Hotel, November 8, 1920. My dear Mrs. Catt: I have your letter of November 8 and have read it with pleasure but it leaves me in some indecision. You say: "Go ahead and know that we will continue the arrangement until January 1st, as you suggest." I made three suggestions: That I move over to the headquarters; that I take a larger room here and have my secretary in with me, or that I keep on as at present. The first suggestion you say is impossible. I imagine that you mean that everything will go on just as it has been doing but if you want me to take one room, please let me know, as it is difficult to get rooms here. If you mean that my salary is to be continued until January 1st, I want to express my gratitude and appreciation and will express this to the commission after it has had its meeting. I asked Miss Bates to hold up my October check until you made a decision, as it would not be for quite the same smount if it is not to be continued any longer. Just a line from you will settle this matter definitely. Very sincerely yours, I have had to make this report very long in order to cover all the ground and if you do not feel like taking the time to read it to the Commission, I would be glad to have you give it to them to read at their leisure. --5-- that belonged to the Leslie Commission if we could seven hours a day's Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, President Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission, New York. October 31, 1920. My dear Mrs. Catt: As the extension of time granted to me by the Leslie Commission July 1, expires November 1. I wish to present a report of the present status of the work on the History. It is the most unpleasant duty I have ever had to perform to report that it is still unfinished but I knew at the time this extension was granted that it could not be completed within the three months and in fact that Mrs. Rogers was right when she said that it would probably require six. Since the time I made my report in June I have not lost a day but have worked Sundays and most of the evenings. Only those who have written history know how slow and tedious it is and how impossible to make an estimate [as to] of the time necessary, as one may hunt half an hour for a date or a name more than once a day and then not find it and have to write one or more letters to get it. I may give you as an instance that I have written six letters to four different persons -- Mr. Laidlaw, Mr. Peabody, Mr. Villard and Mr. Beadle -- to get the date when the Men's Suffrage League was formed, the names of its officers, etc., and one to [Homer] Omar Garwood to settle a controversy as to whether Denver or New York is entitled to the credit of having the first League of this kind. Mrs. Shuler can tell you that in order to get a brief chapter from Oklahoma I have had to consult several times with her, write to Miss Larch-Miller, Miss Pierce and Mrs. Biggers--a number of letters to each one of them - half a dozen to Mrs. Boyer, and the chapter is --2-- still unfinished. I think that chapter has consumed more than a week of my time and the same is true of many others. This shows how impossible it is to estimate one's time on historical work. In a number of cases where I have written numerous letters to try to patch up a State chapter which has been sent in, the writer of it has begged me to return it and let her do it all over, which has necessitated my reading the new chapter and asking a number or questions about that. When I made my last report there were 14 States from which I had nothing at all. I am happy to say that now a complete or partial chapter has been written for every State, even Georgia and South Carolina, with the exception of New Jersey and Ohio. Dr. Hussey expected to return from California October 31 and has promised not to eat or sleep until her part of the chapter is finished. Mrs. Feickert does not even answer my letters. Mrs. Upton, who definitely promised her chapter for last January, has written in answer to my volley of letters, that she cannot touch it until after election. It is sure to come, however, so that the worst is over in regard to these State chapters though there is still considerable work to be done on them. They have consumed the larger part of my time since I moved my office to the hotel, although I have kept other chapters on the way. I look upon the History of the Suffrage movement as consisting of two distinct parts -- the national work for the Federal Amendment and the other work done by the States. The one is just as important as the other and in fact the progress of the movement is most clearly shown through the advance made by the States. To omit this would be to omit a vital part of the History. In very few States have any records been kept and the chapters have had to be created through secretaries' books, newspaper clippings, personal recollections, etc. In a number of cases the writing of these chapters has stimulated the women to write a complete history of the work for --3-- preservation and reference in the libraries of the State, so I do not feel that the time spent on them has been wasted. It would not have been feasible for me to write these chapters myself, as it would have taken as long for me to collect the information as it has taken to have the chapters prepared by others and I could not have assumed the responsibility of doing exact justice to the work and the workers. This must rest upon the women of the States. Since my last report I have written the national chapters for 1918--1919 and 1920, and they were big ones, as they described the culmination of our movement. The hand-books of the conventions for these three years fill as many pages as can be given in the History to all the conventions of the 20 years. These are now all written and have been typed for the final revision and condensing, which could not be done until all were finished. I have also made the first revision of Mrs. McCormick's chapter on the War Work of the Suffragists, which I received from France a few weeks ago. I had told her that the limit would be 5,000 to 6,000 words and she has sent me 14,000, indicating certain other material that would have to be inserted. It is a beautifully written chapter and I wish that it might all be used but it is going to be a very difficult task to cut out about two- thirds of it and will require a great deal of time. I have heard nothing from Mrs.Rogers in regard to her chapter, most of the material for which I placed in her hands before I moved my office from the headquarters. Mrs. Shuler has not prepared her chapter but she has been so pressed for time that I told her it could wait until after election. I will ask you, Mrs.Catt, to make the report on your own part of the History. Long ago I received the reports I asked for from the presidents of the European countries that have granted the suffrage to women, with the exception of Denmark. I have written to three prominent suffragists there --4-- and not in one instance have I had even the courtesy of an answer. I thought it would add to the interest and value to have these reports directly from the leaders in the countries themselves. I could have stated merely the facts myself. A very complete chapter from Mrs. Fawcett will be one of the best in the book. I have also an excellent report from Alaska, written by the wife of a lawyer in Fairbanks. She is a graduate of the University of California and has lived there many years and she gives much information about the suffrage movement in that Territory which we never have had. I think I shall ask Mrs. Pitman, of Brookline, to prepare a little sketch of the situation in Hawaii, as doubtless she can tell things which I do not know, and what she says will be of more value than if said by me. The chief difficulty and cause of my delay have been that I undertook to do the work on too large a scale. I adopted the plan of Volume IV without a full realization that our movement had increased a hundred fold since it was written. The national convention reports, which, at the beginning of the last 20 years filled 100 pages each, filled over 300 each toward the closing years. At the beginning of that time many of the States had done no suffrage work and most of them very little but all of them have done considerable and many of them a vast amount during the last decade. When I fully realized this, the work was so far along that I decided to keep on with the same scale, as it did not seem advisable to shorten it up toward the last, when the most valuable part of suffrage history was being made. As the time of completing the book grew shorter I could have simply put in whatever I could get, without paying so much attention to detail, but it did not seem right for me to lower the standard of the work in its most important stages. I think I have fully enough prepared to fill two volumes but this will enable me to take out the less valuable and preserve only the most vital parts. The book will be more complete than Volume IV, and like that will be the only full history that ever will be written. - 5 - It would have been infinitely less strain on me not to verify every point and simply to omit what I did not know, instead of searching for the facts and figures, but the value of the work would have been very much lessened and after the reader had come across a number of mistakes and misstatements, he would have no confidence in the book as history. I will give you an example: The Woman Suffrage Year Book for 1917 was brought out by the National Publishing Company at great expense and a compiler worked on it for a very long time at a salary. I do not know how long nor how much the book cost but it includes with the addenda about 200 pages, while the History will have 500. A very large part of the Year-book is made up of Mrs. Boyd's carefully prepared statistics and much of it is taken from the bulletins issued by the Leslie Bureau. When Mrs.Boyd [came to] examined the part comprising the reports of the State Legislatures on Woman Suffrage Bills she found so many errors that she got the proof-sheets and began to make corrections for a future edition. [so] She let me have those sheets to use in my work but she never finished making the corrections. I myself found so many mistakes and omissions that I felt it necessary in every instance to have the writers of my chapters verify the report. Probably the majority of the figures in the Year-book were correct, but, after having found a number that were not, I lost confidence in them and felt it necessary to make verification. I cite this only to show how particular one has to be in writing history. I may remark here that I think it is a great pity no Year-book was issued for 1919--1920. There are one or two things I would like to say in palliation of my having failed to keep my contract. While last year I took some time to prepare several pamphlets, etc., for the Publishing Company and an article on suffrage for the new American Encyclopaedia, this year I have written nothing outside of the History except the article in the October Review of Reviews, which was written last March. None of these was done in [time] - 6 - time that belonged to the Leslie Commission if we count seven hours a day's work, as it recognized at the headquarters, and if we allow for Saturday afternoons and a two weeks' annual vacation. In fact I have taken only two Saturday afternoons "off" since I went into the headquarters four years ago, and none of the legal holidays. Last year I had two weeks' vacation but nearly one week of this was spent at Moylan helping Lucy Anthony in the disposition to be made of the books,etc.,left by Dr. Shaw. This year I have not taken a single day's vacation and not even a week end with the exception of one day spent with you, so that a great deal more than seven hours a day has been given to the History. I would also like to say that the Commission has never paid me for a day when I did not work. I have never lost one day through illness since I went into the headquarters, which cannot be said by any other person connected with ether the Commission or the National Association. Miss White, for instance, was out ten weeks last year while she had the influenza, and a number of other days, while this year she has been out on account of illness full as long a time, besides a three weeks' vacation. Miss Young has now been at home three months on account of illness and has missed a good many weeks for this cause in other years. I think that weeks at least have been lost by most of the others because of illness. So I believe that taken all together, I have given a day's work for a day's salary ever since I have been with the Commission. So far as I can estimate I shall have to put in two or three months longer on the History, no matter how hard or continuously I work. I think that by the Holidays I will be able to know just how much longer time will be required. The only reparation I can make for my delay is to finish the book without further salary. I am entirely willing to do this, indeed I think I ought to do it, and it will be done cheerfully. By extending my time for four months with salary, the Commission has far more - 7 - than fulfilled its obligations and I am deeply appreciative of its generosity. If it can possibly continue this generosity by paying for my office and secretary I will be extremely grateful, as this would be a heavy drain on my resources while I was not earning any money. If even desk-room could be found for me at the headquarter, I would gladly go back there, and I am sure that space could be found for my secretary in the stenographers' room. I could occupy your room during the month you are away, if you are willing, and perhaps by the time you return some other arrangement could be made. I could do the most difficult part of my work here at the hotel and I would make any sacrifice of personal comfort and convenience to save rent for the Commission. If no desk-room possibly could be found for me, I would give up these two rooms at my hotel and take one large room, having my secretary in the same room with me, which would considerably reduce the rent here, making it not more than $15 a week for the Commission and probably not more than $13. The delay in this work prevented my attending both the International meetings in Europe this last summer and has spoiled all my plans for the autumn and no amount of salary could compensate for my disappointment, but I feel that I have done the best possible under all the circumstances. Very sincerely yours, Martha Washington Hotel, October 23, 1920. My dear Mrs. Catt: I have your letter of the 18th and am glad of the permission to ask Marjorie to write the next article for the International News. It will save me two days of time. I wonder if you will not be good enough to let me off from writing that letter about Wadsworth, as, to hunt my data and write it would spoil another two days. Anything that I could say, after your broadsides against that gentleman, would be like the peep of a chicken. You have left nothing of him except the backing of the Republican machine. Doubtless you have noticed that he has denied almost everything that you have charged him with. You have done him up magnificently. Your summary in the Woman Citizen of the League of Nations is masterly —could not be surpassed by old Taft himself—and you have not stultified yourself, as he has, by coming out in support of Harding. I have not yet got my breath since reading your statement of your position in Thursday's TIMES and I cannot help feeling a little sorry for the Republicans, after all they have done for woman suffrage, but every word you say is gospel truth. Since writing Mrs. Shuler about the New Jersey chapter I have received a very contrite letter from Dr. Hussey dated at Oakland. She has been in California ever since the Democratic convention working for the single taxers, whose national headquarters, it seems her letter, are in that State. She tells me that she will be home by October 31 and will do nothing else until she had prepared her part of the chapter. I have just read through the New Jersey State reports for the last twenty years and dictated a letter to her, advising what to omit and what to put in that they have left out. There was no report from New Jersey to the national convention of 1918–1919 and, as no State reports were published in the 1920 year-book, that part of the History, including the ratification, --2-- is a blank. I think Dr. Hussey and I can prepare that chapter between us. This is a fair specimen of what I should have encountered if I had undertaken to write these chapters myself, as you suggested that I should have done. I asked Miss Crouch to run over the State reports and give me a résume of them. I enclose the record of a part of them on another sheet, which I would like to have you examine. These reports for historical purposes are practically worthless and if I had undertaken to write the State chapters myself, I would have had to send as many letters to get the necessary information, as I have had to get the chapters themselves. A large part of them have been written for the purpose of getting the information which they omitted and if I have had all this trouble to get it where they were going to have the credit for the chapters, you can imagine just about how much I would have been able to get if they were not going to have any credit. Besides this, nothing would have induced me to take the responsibility of describing the suffrage movement in the different States, as I should not have had a friend in any of them after the History was published.. By putting the responsibility on a woman who lives in the State, she has to take the blame for anything that is wrong. It would have been utterly impossible for me to write these chapters and the only thing that I could have done would have been simply to put in a few bare statistics as to their campaigns and the results, and I should have had no idea as to who deserved credit for these. I consider the State chapters a very important part of the History and I shall soon be through with them. I learn through Mrs. Shuler that the Leslie Commission is to meet October 31. I will send you my report by that time. I knew that you were going to London because I had a letter from New page --3-- Mrs. McCormick saying that she should remain over there until after the Executive Meeting on November 22, when you would be there. This means of course that you will not be back until some time in December. Now, my dear Mrs. Catt, are you going out of the country again before you have done your part on the History? I do not want you to join the list of those who have failed me. I could of course go ahead and revise the chapters that you wanted to see but it would be a terrible disappointment if you should not write the introduction to the book. There would be time for you to do that after your return but if anything should happen to you, then the sad experience with Dr. Shaw would be repeated. I had carefully gone over the chapter with her which she was to write and it was to be done as soon as she came back from her trip, but now the book must appear without a line from her. I would be broken-hearted if this had to be the case with regard to your chapter. Very sincerely yours, [no signature New page [Letterhead] Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission, Inc. Carrie Chapman Catt, President Bureau of Suffrage Education Rose Young, Director Departments Field Press Work Rose Lawless Geyer, Chairman News Marjorie Shuler, Chairman Features Mary Ogden White, Chairman Research Mary Sumner Boyd, Chairman Telephone, 4818 Murray Hill [End of Letterhead] [union bug indicating printers union work] 171 Madison Avenue New York, January 21, 1921 My dear Mrs. Harper: The Leslie Commission has met and instructed me to inform you that it will pay for the room and stenographer and necessary postage until May 1st, if required for so long, but that if the History is not completed by that date, the Commission can support the expenditures no longer. It is, of course, understood that the contract to pay salary, rent and stenographer, if needed, for two months during the time of proof reading and indexing, will be carried out. It is desired that you will continue your effort to secure exact estimates or bids for publication. Naturally, it is the desire of the Commission to print the book as soon as possible. We are of the opinion that it ought to be read before publication and we will try to arrange to have this done. Sincerely yours, /s/ Carrie Chapman Catt CCC/D Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Martha Washington Hotel, New York City January 24, 1921. My dear Mrs. Catt: I received your letter Saturday telling me the decision of the Leslie Commission at its recent meeting in regard to my work. Its agreement to continue payment of my office rent and stenographer's salary until May 1, if necessary, is far beyond what I expected and gives me the greatest relief of mind and pleasure. I shall not relax my efforts for a single hour and, as I am almost through the struggle to get the State chapters, and have nearly all the information I shall need for the entire volume, progress henceforth should be more rapid than in the past. Please accept my warmest thanks for yourself and the Commission. Several points in my notes of January 19, need answering. Very sincerely yours, February 10, 1920. My dear Mrs. Catt: In answer to your request here is my report in regard to Volume V of the History of Woman Suffrage, which I am now writing. When the question of having the history written was under consideration by the Leslie Commission I wrote to the Hollenbeck Press, of Indianapolis, who published Volume IV, a large and old firm which as for many years printed all of the Hobbs - Merrill Company's books as part of its work, and asked for a tentative estimate of the cost of publishing. Their estimate [r] Volume [t] IV had been 900 less than one made by a firm in New York and I judged that it would be less now. I asked them to figure on an exact duplicate of that volume, 1,000 copies in cloth and 1,000 in sheep, to match the others. Their estimate dated January 7, 1918, was "5,551 approximately". This included everything complete except pictures, but the photogravure process, like the others, is not expensive. The only additional charge would be for printers' correction, not a very large item. The estimate did not include electrotype plate, but as those of the other four volumes have been destroyed, none, of course, would be made. The Hollenbeck's printed the Biography of Miss Anthony and as their storage charges are reasonable I have always left it there. They box and ship a set for 15 cent. The 3 volumes are twice the size of Mrs. C. C. Catt-2 one volume of the History. As the cost cf 1,ooo volumes would be so nearly that of 2,000 I would advise the latter; 3,000 of volume IV were printed and they are nearly all gone. An inexperienced clerk under supervision could send to the libraries of the country a notice of the book and I am sure many of them would order and pay for it. A short time before the headquarters closed the book could be presented to the smaller and poorer libraries. The entire matter of shipping could be left with the Hollenbeck's and the books need never come to New York.. Or arrangements could be made with a New York publishing firm for all this if a reliable one could be found that would make a lower estimate than the Hollenbeck's. In my letter to the Commission in regard to writing this volume I said: "The preparation of Volume IV, 1,200 pages, required 18 months of the hardest work that can be imagined, about ten hours a day. The circumstances were especially favorable, as I ate, slept and worked under the same roof, even my mending was done for me. I had two secretaries of my own, and Miss Anthony's for nearly half the time. I should not like to estimate less time than 18 months for this volume. After the manuscript has been but into the hands of the publishers about three months must be allowed for galley and page-proof reading and indexing. These would be included in the 18 months. If the book were not finished by that time I would make no further charge." The contract was made on this basis and it showed very poor judgement on my part, as there could hardly be a greater contrast than the complete seclusion of the Anthony home and the semi-publicity of the national headquarters; having my room at one place and taking my meals at others, involving a walk of blocks three times a day, and nobody to Mrs. C. C. Catt-3 relieve me of the slightest detail. In addition to this I discovered not long ago in looking over some old records that it was the actual writing of Volume IV that required 18 months; that I went to Chautauqua, New York, for part of the summer and read the proof there and then returned to Rochester and did the indexing in the early fall, so I must have been 20 or 21 months altogether on the volume. I had forgotten all these circumstances. I lost a little time in the early months of January, 1919, by allowing myself to do some other suffrage work that seemed important and had to be done then or not at all. Miss Ogden thought it advisable for me to bring the two booklets up to date -- Story of the Federal Amendment and Brief History of Woman Suffrage -- as they were needed. I went to Dr. Shaw's funeral and prepared a Memorial for the Publishing Company, all these a free-will offering. I sent the obituary, aditorial (sic), etc., from the New York Times with a short letter telling of her death to the officers, chairman of standing committees of the International Council of Women, all presidents of National Councils, and received twenty beautiful letters from different countries in response, some of which were used in the headquarters Memorial. I also prepared the clippings and had the envelopes addressed to all the officers and presidents of the International Alliance. I could not resist the temptation to answer occasionally an anti-suffrage article or editorial. After some months it became evident that all outside work must be resolutely stopped and since then it has been, with a few exceptions. I sent over twenty letters in the matter of that Colored Women's Federation at the time of the National Convention in St. Louis last year. Since January 1, 1919, I have written twelve long letters for the 4. International Suffrage News, each taking a good part of two days, or between three and four weeks. I sent[*spent] days of time collecting all the information we had in the headquarters for those who were to write the State chapters for Volume V and have written at least 150 letters to them besides. The correspondence was begun September 3 and every letter promptly answered on my part. The material was sent to them early in November and the chapters were to be here byy[by] January 31 at the latest. Thus far nine have been received and a superficial examination indicates that I will have to do a large amount of work on them, which will probably be the case with all. I have spent not less than 9 hours every holiday except Christmas and New Year's. I took only ten days' vacation during the year and three of these were spent at Moylan advising Lucy about the accumulation of books, etc. , in the attic and the Histories and Biographies. With all this effort I find that it will be impossible to have the manuscript ready for the publishers by May 1, as I had planned. I could not face this certainty until the State chapters began to come in and didn't begin to com in. Now I know it will not be humanly possible. This delay will not be detrimental to the issuing of the volume, as white paper may be cheaper and publishers never bring out a book in summer. All the preliminary notices can be sent in advance. I am prepared to stand by my contract and work for the last few months without salary if the Leslie Commission feels that I should do so. if it should be inclined to continue the salary I could, during the months when I am proofreading and indexing, take entire charge of circularizing the libraries, keeping account of their answers, etc., and spare enough of my stenographer's time to do that work. I could also take full charge of the correspondence and arrangements with the publishers and relieve the Commission of all the details, and there will be many. 5 In conclusion I want to thank the commission for my delightful office and the excellent facilities for my work, whose delays and exactions only those can know who have tried to write history with a conscientious desire to be entirely accurate and absolutely just to all with whom it is concerned. Very sincerely yours, Historical Department December 31, 1919 Contract Contract Mrs. Harper Stenographer, letterheads, postage, office supply, 16 mos. at $4000 multigraphing, mimeographing, telegraphy, etc. no to per year exceed $5,333.33 $3,666.67 - (Total $9,000) I.H.H. Rent Steno. Statnry Supplies Postage Moving & Wiring Tel. & Tel. Sundry Expenses Jan. 300.00 66.67 100.00 16.17 9.00 4.77 .82 Feb. 300.00 66.67 80.00 32.45 5.00 3.00 .35 March 400.00 66.67 80.00 3.00 .41 April 300.00 66.67 80.00 4.00 .41 May 300.00 66.67 100.00 5.50 3.45 3.16 June 400.00 66.67 80.00 2.26 .91 July 300.00 66.67 120.00 2.10 39.41 Aug. 300.00 66.67 60.00 5.75 1.66 Sept. 400.00 66.67 94.66 8.80 5.75 .41 Oct. 300.00 66.67 100.00 19.17 2.00 21.53 Nov. 300.00 66.67 80.00 .21 7.50 20.70 Dec. 400.00 66.67 100.00 6.73 4.50 25.20 4000.00 800.04 1074.66 83.53 56.36 4.77 6.45 114.97 83.53 2140.78 Total 56.36 6140.78 4.77 6.45 $266.08 Sundry Expenses January Towel Service .41 February "" .41 World Almanac .35 March Towel Service .41 April "" .41 May Repairs and new cylinder on typewriter 2.75 Towel Service .41 June Typewriter Repair .50 Towel Service .41 July Traveling Expense 39.00 Towel Service .41 August Blank Book .25 Package form Lucy Anthony 1.00 Towel Service .41 September Towel Service .41 47.54 Supplies to stenographer have not been charged since January but will be filled out on stenographer's record book and included in October report. I estimate the total amount from February to September inclusive $15.00. Stenographer January & May show $100 each as there were five pay days in those months. July and August - difference occasioned by vacation money being advanced. September - Miss Ryan 2 weeks $40.00 Miss Eckhart 1 1/2 w 37.50 Miss Coyle 5 days 16.66 (week ending Sept. 27) 94.16 Stationery & Supplies January - Sundry Items to stenographer 16.17 February - National Woman Suffrage Pub. 32.45 September - " " " " 8.80 57.42 Moving and Wiring January 16 - Paid Mr. Berri 1.50 " a"c wiring 3.27 4.77 Telephone & Telegraph February - Exchanging phone 3.00 May - Cable 2.35 Package from Palo Alto 1.10 6.45 Historical Department Contract Contract Mrs. Harper Stenographer, letterheads, postage, office supplies, 16 mos. at $4000 multi graphing, mimeographing, telegraphy, etc. not per year to exceed $5,333,33 $3,666.67 - (Total $9,000) I.H.H. Rent Steno. Statnry Supplies Postage Moving & Wiring Tel. & Tel. Sundry Expenses Jan. 300.00 66.67 100.00 16.17 9.00 4.77 .82 Feb. 300.00 66.67 80.00 32.45 5.00 3.00 .35 March 400.00 66.67 80.00 3.00 .41 April 300.00 66.67 80.00 4.00 .41 May 300.00 66.67 100.00 5.50 3.45 3.16 June 400.00 66.67 80.00 2.26 .91 July 300.00 66.67 120.00 2.10 39.41 Aug. 300.00 66.67 60.00 5.75 1.66 Sept. 400.00 66.67 94.16 8.80 5.75 .41 3,000.00 600.03 794.16 57.42 42.36 4.77 6.45 47.54 Total $1,553,23 Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.