NAWSA GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Papazian, Bertha S. 61 Hamilton Place Dear Miss Blackwell:- I am wondering what you would have said had you been present when Mrs. Beard expressed herself as per the enclosed - Not that I question the part she has attributed to women in the making of history - but that I greatly doubt her contention that "equal opportunities" for education have always been theirs. Certainly Dr. Elizabeth Blackell and Lucy Stone did not find this to be true. Please don't bother to acknowledge this. Much as I appreciate, enjoy, and treasure your letters, I don't want you to tire your eyes. Affectionately, Bertha S.P. By the way, Mrs. Catt remarked the other day at New Rochelle that this is still a man's world. Who shall decide when such eminent authorities disagree? For Alice Stone Blackwell Feb 10, 1950 Dearest of friends: "All day beneath the snowy roof The chimney kept repining - and past the window's frosty woof The winter wind went whining. All night the dark was piled on cold Until the walls were snapping over But snug within the kitchen fold, The wise gray cat lay napping." The above from the "Times" of this morning! Try to emulate the cat, Please! "All will yet be well!" Just try, in other words, to be as passive as possible. I wrote you yesterday somewhat incoherently I fear - but the substance was sound. Now I too - having set out the lines I told you of ever - I shall await the responses, passively until Monday - by stretching myself, first of all, in a warm to hot bath. I hope you'll do the same - Isn't the poem lovely? A woman named Clare Shipman is the author. The title is "The Philosopher." Lovingly as devotedly - Bertha S. Papazian Greetings of the kindest from CrisT August 15, 1949 SMITH PLANS CONVOCATION ---- Women's Work Will Be Hailed at 75th Anniversary Fete ---- NORTHAMPTON, Mass., Aug. 13-Events planned for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the opening of Smith College to be celebrated during the coming academic year will call attention to the accomplishments of women in many fields of activity, Miss Florence Snow, head of the planning committee, said today. She said the event would bring more than 600 dignataries to the campus. In addition to the awarding of honorary degrees to twelve women from the United States and five foreign countries and the inauguration of Benjamin Fletcher Wright as Smith's fifth president, there will be an exhibit in the Smith College museum in October of the work of ten American women painters and a display of seventy-five important books written by women between 1875 and 1949. The inauguration and convocation at which the honorary degrees will be conferred are the highlights of a two-day celebration on Oct. 19 and 10, which will open the anniversary. August 15, 1949 Dearest Miss Blackwell: I suppose you know all about this Smith College convocation, and that your -and grateful remembrances -won't you? - and think of me as one who was (and is) proud as well as happy to have had your friendship. Affectionately always Bertha S. Papazian P.S. My greetings to Miss Talbot, please, if she is still with you books - all four - are to be among those displayed. * Probably also you have heard of the Woman Surgeon - aged eighty-odd years - who went to Copenhagen from the U.S. to deliver what was called "The Elizabeth Blackwell Lecture" this summer; and who, just before her departure, performed 6 (six) emergency operations? Her name [was] is Suzanne Van Husen *I certainly hope so. I would be a scandal, if they weren't. or Van Hooten - or something like that. I learned of her prowess via the radio, but you may know her personally. Anyway, it gave me a great thrill to know that Dr. Blackwell continues not only to make history but to be honored in this special way. From the announcement - as heard by me - I took "The E.B Lecture" to be one delivered either at stated intervals somewhere or on special occasions anywhere Medical Women might be convening, as they are or have been this summer in some part of Scandinavia, not, I believed, in Denmark itself Though I have not written to express my concern for your state of bodily health - during this excessively hot summer, you and your general situation in this trying world have been constantly in the forefront; middle-ground, or background of my mind. As for my brother Crist - by such measures as I could get him to accept in the way of sharing himself - he has managed to pull thru thus far, better than I, earlier, had dared to hope. And, - yesterday, I went out* [*to a little nearby park] for a "breathing spell" for the first time in many weeks - six or seven - which means that all the activities I'd mentioned as a possibility have had to be postponed until [the] such "vim" as I have lost [*partly*] because of this "untowardness" on the part of the weather, has been regained. Accept my kindest wishes and To Bertha S. Papazian Christmas, 1949 O, friend beloved for many years, Of gifts and talents rare, A tireless champion of the right, With voice or pen, by day or night, Ready to do or dare! Spouse of the noble G.H.P., Whose spirit seems, to you and me, Still through the dark to guide us: A blessed presence, ever near, With counsels wise and words of cheer, As when he walked beside us. You've been Armenia's faithful friend, Unchanged through changing years; You've shared her sorrows without end, Her sufferings and fears. All treacheries and wrongs, you knew, That struck this hapless nation; many were false, but you were true– O, gallant soul, I send to you My love and admiration! Alice Stone Blackwell Copy James L. Barton Chairman John H. Finley Vice-Chairman Charles V. Vickery General Secretary Cleveland H. Dodge Treasurer Near East Relief INCORPORATED BY ACT OF CONGRESS (FORMERLY AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR ARMENIAN AND SYRIAN RELIEF) 151 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK Cable Address: NEAREAST Telephone: ASHLAND 7480 NEAR EAST RELIEF National Educational Advisory Committee Dr. P. P. CLAXTON Honorary Chairman Dr. JOHN H. FINLEY,CHAIRMAN Dr. FRANK M. McMURRY Dr. HENRY CHURCHILL KING Dr. CHARLES W. ELIOT Dr. JOHN H. T. MAIN Dr. HARRY PRATT JUDSON Dr. RAY LYMAN WILBUR ELIZABETH H. PASHAYAN SECRETARY FOR SCHOOLS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE EDWIN M. BULKLEY, Chr. JAMES L. BARTON CLEVELAND H. DODGE ABRAM I. ELKUS HAROLD A. HATCH ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES WILLIAM B. MILLAR GEORGE A. PLIMPTON WALTER GEORGE SMITH CHARLES V. VICKREY STANLEY WHITE NATIONAL BOARD OF TRUSTEES WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT ABRAM I. ELKUS MYRON T. HERRICK HENRY MORGENTHAU ELIHU ROOT OSCAR S. STRAUS JAMES L. BARTON CHARLES E. BEURY ARTHUR J. BROWN EDWIN M. BULKLEY JOHN B. CALVERT WILLIAM I. CHAMBERLAIN HENRY SLOANE COFFIN CHARLES R. CRANE ROBERT J. CUDDIHY CLEVELAND E. DODGE CLEVELAND H. DODGE CHARLES W. ELIOT JOHN H. FINLEY JAMES G. HARBORD HAROLD A. HATCH WILLIAM I. HAVEN HOWARD HEINZ HAMILTON HOLT FRANK W. JACKSON ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES HARRY PRATT JUDSON HENRY CHURCHILL KING FREDERICK LYNCH CHARLES S. MACFARLAND H. B. F. MACFARLAND VANCE C. McCORMICK JOHN H. T. MAIN WILLIAM B. MILLAR FRANK MORRISON JOHN R. MOTT FRANK MASON NORTH GEORGE A. PLIMPTON FRANK L. POLK WM. COOPER PROCTOR PHILIP RHINELANDER FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT WILLIAM JAY SCHIEFFELIN GEORGE T. SCOTT ALBERT SHAW EDWARD LINCOLN SMITH WALTER GEORGE SMITH ROBERT ELIOT SPEER JAMES M. SPEERS ANSON PHELPS STOKES CHARLES V. VICKREY HARRY A. WHEELER STANLEY WHITE RAY LYMAN WILBUR TALCOTT WILLIAMS STEPHEN S. WISE October 4th, 1921. [*Dear Miss Blackwell These are for your enlightenment. Destroy when you are through with them. Or, perhaps I'd better say [do] it is not necessary to return them. BSP*] Mrs. Bertha Papazian, Boston, Mass. Dear Mrs. Papazian: This will introduce you to Mrs. Boyadjian and Mrs. Khodjasarian, who have come to this country to present a much sorely needed work in our national life, I am enclosing copies of letters of American friends who emphasize the importance and the necessity of this institution, which I hope you will be interested to read. The ladies have been very successful in organizing a very strong committee of prominent Armenian men who have given them the right kind of assistance and cooperation that the cause deserves. The form of appeal that is to be made to the Armenians in this country is through organizational approach. The religious, political and miscellaneous organizations are called upon to cooperate. They are also desirous to interest a few of our American friends who are keenly interested in Armenian educational problems. We will soon make an effort to organize a committee to canvass prominent American friends. I am wondering if this plan could not be worked out in Boston through your kind leadership. They are very anxious to meet Miss Alice Stone Blackwell. I am therefore referring them to you and they will be guided, I am sure, by your counsel. It is a most deserving cause and has the endorsement of the Armenian Patriarch, The Protestant Chancellor and men from all walks of life. May we not hope to have your usual kind cooperation. With best personal regards, I am Very sincerely yours, Elizabeth H. Pashayan Elizabeth H. Pashayan Secretary for Schools EHP /MAH [*3 copies*] (COPY) ROBERT COLLEGE Constantinople June 5, 1921 This is to introduce my friends, Mrs. Boyadjian and Mrs. Khodjasarian, who are devoted members of the Board of Directors of a very good Armenian School for Girls in Constantinople, called "Tebrotsasere". This school is especially for normal teaching and during the 43 years of its existence, it has trained about 300 teachers who have gone out into Armenian Schools all through the country, a most necessary work in this land of so much ignorance and poverty. The school is also an orphanage, with 350 girls living and studying there. Most of the teachers are graduates of this school and they take the most intelligent girls from different orphanages so that they may have a good education. Unfortunately, the school has twice been burned out by bad fires, thus losing a great deal. It is at present occupying a large, rented house, which the Turkish owner threatens to turn them out of at any minute. Therefore, the Directors desire to build a school of their own, on some good land which is already theirs, or else to sell that and buy something out of the city. It seems a necessity as large houses are difficult to find and rents are very high. I am glad to recommend highly the work of this school and the ladies who run it. They are devoted, unselfish workers and are efficient and energetic, with a high Christian purpose in their work. They need money so much that I hope some friends in America will be able to help them to continue this necessary and well established school. They have worked hard to support this school through the difficult years of the war and since. The Armenians of Constantinople are doing so much to help their own needy people that I feel it is a great privilege and pleasure for us to help them. Very sincerely yours, (Signed) Elizabeth Dodge Huntington (Mrs. George H.) American School Loving Society Credentials (COPY) AMERICAN MISSIONS IN TURJEY 5 American Bible House Constantinople June 3, 1921. To whom it May Concern:- The bearers of this letter, Mrs. A. Boyadjian, president, and Mrs. H. Khodjasarian, secretary, officers of the Tebrotzasser (school loving) Society, are leaving Constantinople for the United States in the interests of the work of their organization which has been in existence of upwards of forty-five years, during which the Society has had a good record and has educated many youths from the Armenian community, including over 300 graduate teachers who have done valuable service in the interior. At present this Society has the care of 300 orphan children, the wards of the Armenian nation, for whom it is necessary to erect suitable buildings in order that they may be properly housed. This mission has the endorsement of the Patriarch and the good wishes of all who are acquainted with its work and the cause which it represents. Very truly yours, (Signed) W. W. Peet 6 Ellsworth Avenue Cambridge, Mass. 17 January 1921 Dear Miss Blackwell;- Greetings! The manuscript and leaflet I am enclosing are duplicates of what I have just sent on to Miss Young for The Citizen. I hope she will use them. I also hope that you will feel like writing a little editorial to help acquaint the world with the fact that the Armenian case is no dead nor our obligations in the matter liquidated. With the mandate question out of the way we ought soon to be able to get down to business and when Mr. Papazian returns, which will be within a few weeks or less, I shall consult with him and by his aid with other Armenians about ways and means. And then the National League of Women Voters may have a nother job on their hands! But don't say anything directly about these secrets. I have had a very interesting letter from Mr. Papazian who, by now, must be in Paris and almost ready to leave for home. He tells me lots of news- some of it strikes me as good- about the way Armenian Bolshevists have taken hold and by uniting with the Russians expelled the Kemalist forces. However, mums the word until he comes, - and then the house-teps if all xxs is as it seems, - not that anything is good, really, but it is all so much better than being bamboozled by A Europeans and Americans! I should like to have letter to the Citizen back when you are through with it so that I may send it on to an Armenian paper in Fresno. I am sending copies to the Armenian papers in order that they may know that they really have a states an in Mrs. Apcar. I am coming over some day with a box of molasses cookies for you. So don't be surprised! Affectionately, and gratefully, Bertha L. Papajian Now proud I am to be a voter, - fiercely so and threateningly! [*Bertha S Papzian '21*] Bertha Papazian Thursday P. M. rec'd June 10 1921 Dear Miss Blackwell: Very joyfully, I have entered the $40.00 from Mrs. Fall. The check should be made out to the Armenian General Benevolent Union - Old South Building Room 510 - Some time I should be glad to know Mrs. Fall's initials or first name and her address for our address- book. Thank you for the interest in clipping and for the kindness you have done by reading again Mrs. Apcar's article. I am returning the clipping. Of course I don't know the statistics with regard to conversions from Mohammedism; but this I do know: Mr. Sevasly said that for a Mohammedan to become a Christian was — under the old Sultans prior to the Revolution at any rate — a capital offense - that during his lifetime 2 Turks had never the less risked everything and had been baptized. And that in spite of the representations of the British Ambassador they had the penalty of the law and were hanged — Of course by now under the so-called constitution — this may have been altered. However, I have never heard one missionary claim any Turkish conversions- They say "They are ready"- or "They would come over, if they dared en masse" etc. But as you say, there really is not much relevance in talking about the matter. I am very enthusiastic about the scheme for a system of free dispensaries in Cilicia which certain young Armenian doctors have under way, and I have promised to do all that I can do to help. Yesterday I went with my sister- whom you have not met- but who is a librarian at the Harvard Medical School- to a tea given to the ladies who are attending the American Medical Association Convention with their husbands- sons, etc. And as we wandered about the beautiful court and saw these splendid earnest men - all against the noble background of the Medical school building and beneath the single Harvard flag which flew above the central building - I could not help feeling that it would be a great glory to have even the smallest part in this work of giving opportunity for service to these young Armenian doctors, nurses and dentists who are so ready to give all that they have for the cause. The committee is going to ask you to lend your great name to the work. Dr. Harvey Cushing of Harvard - one of the greatest brain surgeons in the world. has agreed to serve. Two dispensaries are already open. Dr. Ruemjeau of Chicago is conducting them. When do you leave for Martha's Vineyard, I wonder? I shall be calling you up soon to find out if we can't have you over once before you go. I hope you have been able to find a good house-keeper. How perfect your hospitality was last year - to me. Always gratefully yours, Bertha S. Papazian Wednesday April 7-43 Beloved Mrs. Blackwell, Yes, our letters crossed! I had been refraining from writing in order-for one day- to give you a rest. You are always so prompt in replying even when I tell you not to [.] trouble. And I was so happy and grateful to receive a copy of your Christian Service monitor interview-so full of interesting reminiscences and comments- pungent and wise-on present day problems. Thanks again, and do let me know sometime if you would like to have me return it to you for your files. Before long, I shall be returning Dr. Blackwell's little masterpiece- Counsel to Parents- You'll be glad to know that I've managed to incorporate references to her twice in the course of my book- the second time at arm length and both times, I hope and believe, artistically by which I mean without strain. I want too much give currency to her ideas, if I can. It would be nice if there should ever be a demand for new editions of her work. Just now your request for Miss Bessie Beattys address has come - in an envelope, by the way, that had been opened by some on and then very untidily, not to say dirtily, and damply - re-glued! The superintendent of the building - when catechized- was quite as disgusted as I was. He say very honestly that he had found it lying opened on the floor of the lobby but had sealed it up himself in the hope that I would not have to know of the happening and he disturbed. A very strange occurrence which I hope will not be repeated! We're so sorry that the eye difficulty has not moderated -Be careful not to over-exert and to do all you can to build yourself up [?]-- We all send love, thanks, and best best wishes-- You will find Miss Beattys husband's name on the enclosed letter from him. Don't bother to return it. I know you will want to include him in your Easter greeting to her. Will want to include him in your Easter greeting to her. How I long to see you! To see for myself how you are and to have a long talk! Admiringly always and devoted. Bertha S. Papazian WILLIAM SAUTER WOR, 1440 BROADWAY NEW YORK CITY February 16, 1943 Dear Mrs.Priest: Thank you so much for the Dr.Blackwell Biography, which Betty and I enjoyed reading before the program on Monday. I hope you heard the program on Monday when we read some of these Spanish-American poems and also mentioned the biography, which was most interesting. With many thanks for your interest and co-operation. Please forgive my wife for not writing - she is so pressed. Sincerely, William S. Sauter. [*Mr Sauter's wife is Bessie Beatty*] February 21st 1940 Dear Miss Blackwell:- (And you are a dear!) Thank you very much for letting me know about the proposed book, and for letting me see the letter and statement concerning it - both of which I am here with returning. I can imagine how swiftly you began to plan the article requested of you, and how valuable a contribution it will be. Yes, we've heard all sorts of alarming things about Boston's snow storm : how the town's folk had been cautioned to remain indoors; how fires were [*I fear one -- Please do be careful! Much love and again my thanks! Bertha S. Papazian*] Snowfall was only seven and a fraction inches about half of what fell in Boston. By the way, Mr. H.L. Mencken, who visited Cambridge recently, said yesterday over the radio that except for two smoke-stacks, Harvard was completely buried -- an exaggeration, of course, but it set me to thinking of the tall snow-drifts I had known and adored when I lived in Ellsworth Avenue, and of how such storms were usually a signal for me to take a long walk -- without an umbrella. I can't help wondering if theosophists and others are not right in seeing a connection between the antics of our earth and of the solar system in general - and the turbulent state of human society feared because of the impossibility of reaching -- or finding the hydrants; and that when the thaw comes floods are by no means unexpected. We sincerely hope that the worst of these alarms, at least, will prove to have been baseless and that the discomfort and inconvenience will be more than compensated for by the invigoration the snow will bring to the soil, and the replenishment to the water supply which -- in our region, at any rate -- has been threateningly low. We've had a blizzard here too, you know, but our Think of the floods, of that awful earth quake in Turkey, of the abnormally hot summer, of the drought, and of the arctic weather that has been visiting the South!!! and Europe - Some day I am going to send you a copy of the little speech I made in introducing you as toast mistress at the banquet in honor of the Armenian Civil and Military Missions at the Copley Plaza in December, 1919. I came across the original a week or so ago. And some time too I'll have to decide to what museum or other organization I ought to give that table-cloth made and embroidered by Mrs. Alfred Russell Wallace which belonged to Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell and was given to me by Miss Barry-Blackwell; and also the needle book a gift to Dr. B. from that philanthropic English Jewess mentioned I believe in "Pioneer Work." Next time you write, please let me know how you are - I am astonished to see that you are doing your own writing and that it - the handwriting - is as clear as ever. Does this mean that your eyes are better? Or does it mean that you are straining them - and getting along with out your secretary? You would not be so rash, I hope, as to attempt to do that - and yet - 61 Hamilton Place New York, N. Y. February 24, 1939 Dearest Miss Blackwell:- You certainly did not owe me a reply to that letter and you won't owe me one for this - though sometime ,when you have quite recovered from the effects of your cold and can comfortably "get round" to it, I should be ever so happy and grateful if you would dictate to your secretary a few lines about Garabed H. Papazian, as you remember him - to be used with other material as the basis of an article which an Armenian editor wishes to write [about] [him] - And please forgive me the suggestion that you use strong paper for the purpose - the weaker sorts crumble and rot so very easily - it's appalling - You remember Mr. Messia of course. Until recently he was the from the Five and Ten - just in case you shouldn't have any "strong stuff" on hand. Another reason why I am not interested in the article about myself is that my work for Armenia being done, I feel obliged to put all the strength I can muster into my "present" book - Naturally as the task is huge and my strength wobbly I'm forced not only to rest but to try to recuperate after each spurt of effort. You will not need to be told that writing is the sort of thing that takes possession of one - It can't be done by the clock. Once, in Goethe's phrase (phrase), once "the mind grows heated" it stays hot (thank heaven!) day after day and night after night - or until the fuel has been burned out. Just now my "fires" are a bit low - after a period of cerebration that to me, after my years of disability, seemed, and still seems positively glorious - So I'll have to go on living like a hermit, snatching at such editor of The Baikar, and lived in Boston. Now he and his wife have moved to New York and he is engaged in other work of a public character - speaking and organizing mostly I believe. His wife called on me sometime in January and later wrote me of Mr. Messia's admiration for G. H. P. - whom he regarded as a "very interesting and outstanding figure among the Armenians" - and of his wish to write a tribute to his memory. She also said that Mr. Messia would like to send the editor of The Mirror-Spectator to write an article about me - or rather to interview me with the idea of writing about me and my service to the Armenian cause. In response to the suggestion I had to say that I was not well enough to undertake such an effort now, but that I was ready - or would be ready - to supply information about G. H. P. whenever Mr. Messia could find time to come for it. I am enclosing a sheet of strong letter paper - which I buy moments as seem favorable [for] to another dash forward. How is your health now, Miss Blackwell? I hope and pray that the cough has gone. If not, I strongly advise you to use cough drops of some sort - "Helps" - little dark snips of something like licorice or some other soothing local agent - Miss Van den Broek has long since over come my skepticism with regard to these measures. They do seem to stop the irritation or at least to keep it in abeyance - and even the latter is something. One can't afford to wear one's self out [with] in such a disagreeable and useless struggle - as coughing involves. The other day I read in The Times of that very high political honor bestowed upon your poet - Gabriela Mistral. I clipped the item from the paper with the intention of sending it to you to make sure that you would know about it. I'm not certain that I can lay my hands on it now - but if I can I will enclose it. With every good wish! Yours gratefully and affectionately Bertha S. Papazian Bertha Papazian 6 Ellsworth Avenue Cambridge Dear Miss Blackwell:- After a couple of weeks of distraction I have [has] returned to my book again and [have] once again have begun to look facts in the face. I don't see how I ever came to the conclusion that I could take a vacation. I cannot - That is all there is about it. It will be necessary for me to use every possible favoring moment if I am to have the book done by fall - And have it done I must or die in the attempt. I have given over two years now to recovering from my Armenian struggle and to re-orienting myself with regard to things literary and American - even this I could not do it for when night came I should be uneasy about Mr. Papazian's and my brother's welfare - and a thousand other things besides. So I must stay here where my unsocial ways will be [tolerated] less objectionable, where my duty is and where my books, typewriter, and libraries are. A little courage and self-sacrifice on my part would seem to be in order - And probably my reward will be a finished book by fall and an easier and less anxious winter than last winter was. My aim is to go peddling my book in New York next September. I am sure you will realize what a real deprivation it will be not to be with you at glorious Chilmark. May I hope for Twenty-six months to be exact - and I have completed nothing. This is a shocking state of affairs. And of course I must try to redeem it by a bold and persistent effort to bring one thing to completion before fall. You know how much this sort of work - both in quality and quantity of the thing produced - depends upon concentration. The least thing sets me off - and it takes a week sometimes to re-capture the mood and the train of thought. If I were to go to Martha's Vineyard with you I should either have to throw all my work to the winds and just rusticate and reval; or else to become a friend - so preoccupied as to be almost dumb - and the experience another year? From now on I must consecrate myself to my task this summer - I shall think of you often and of Mrs. Baharian and of your cousin. And I shall feel cooler when I think that I actually had the invitation to go to that glorious spot but that I deliberately turned my back upon it "scorned delights and lived laborious days." Wish me well, won't you, and be sure that I am always Devotedly yours Bertha L. Papazian. 61 Hamilton Place Monday Feb. 27, 1939 Dearest Miss Blackwell:- Even if I had written the minute after I had read your tribute to G. H. P. and your letter to me I could not hope to equal your Castilian courtesy and chivalry of spirit; yet here I am writing several hours later - knowing meanwhile that as this acknowledgment cannot be posted until tomorrow you will probably not receive it until Wednesday. And to think that you are just emerging from the "flu". and I am not! However, I must admit to being - as I told you in my last letter - a little "down", a little over-fatigued, and obliged to store up energy for those X ray pictures to be taken of my spine on Wednesday. Your lovely words came the more opportunely on that account. They brought comforting tears to my [*appreciation, dear Miss Blackwell. Don't take my diatribes too seriously. Bertha L. Papazian*] [*on a higher plane of thought and feeling Like you, I miss him dreadfully too - It is only lately that I have begun to realise how much- He was a veritable well-spring of wisdom inspiration hope encouragement faith and consolation --- a spring, by the way that never failed. Well, I must think of ending this letter now What do you make of the Palestinian situation? Do you agree with me that the whole mix-up is due to double and high-handed dealing on England's part. By what right did she set herself up as the determiner of the destinies of both Arabs and Jews? How inexcusable were here secret agreements - secret and contradictory and how like her now to "save her face" by *] eyes as they related to my husband; grateful thought too of you as of him; though protesting as well as flattering ones as they related to myself. If there is any "genius," around, I guess it is you--and not I who have it! I could not but think of my husband's abiding and often-stated conviction that "True greatness is moral! That applies to you - who have met the tests so conspicuously - and - as you recognize - to him - He was all that you say - "calm, unpartial, and unselfish"- pliant as water in little things but like a rock when it came to principle. Thank you most heartily for your contribution to the memorabilia I shall try to assemble for the purpose I [m] told you of - The picture it will combine to present, will be like the sun returning to the sky after days of gloom - full of beneficence - for I don't know of many to equal him and of no one who moved habitually "getting out" now that the going is difficult and her interests can best be secured by abandoning her utterly untenable schemes. One cannot but be surprised to think that the Jews could have hoped for any other issue- Why doesn't she offer a large section of Canada to the German Jews for colonization; or at least admit them there to the number of a couple of hundred thousand instead of acting as if their only hope lay in some jungle-like quarter of the World - If the United States could not only take in but profit by the presence of millions of penniless immigrants Why can't her colonies and dominions do the same? What is the matter with them anyway? Lots and lots of love and 61 Hamilton Place November 7 '39 Dear Miss Blackwell;- The other morning the two interesting Armenian papers came, and also the clipping; and not so very many weeks before that- another bundle of the newspapers. Do you know what these tokens of your thoughtfulness remind me of? Birdsong, as it comes to one sometimes unexpectedly in the silence of a country road. I had been thinking of you a great deal, of course, and -as usual at this time of year-wondering how your birthday went off... Was there a deservedly grand celebration? And how is your health, now that the bracing fall is here? I've been able to plug along pretty constantly since September began; and am really enjoying my work, even though-at times- it seems a bit staggering, Are you doing any translations? I treasure the two Hallowe'en poems you wrote in my honor, and sent to me when I was at my sickest. Was'nt it a shame about Shahmouradian? Why did he have to die "in abject poverty[?]" and become insane? What were the Armenians thinking of to let such a tragedy occur? Not everyone can devote [themselves] himself to making money and, after all, he was there and ready when they needed someone to appear nobly in public as a representative of their race. I remember so well his singing of the Marseillaise and Mer Hairenik one night at the Allied Bazaar in Mechanics Hall during the war, and how he brought that excited and vast audience to enraptured silence. . . I have every reason to remember the size of the crowd because I kept forcing my way through it with a stack of your "Poems" on my arm [and] crying out their virtues to all and sundry who , conceivably, might be interested to buy. . . Thank you again for keeping me in touch with that past, such a significant part of which we shared, and which is revived, often so strikingly, by the newspapers, By the way, did you happen to meet Havelock Ellis's wife when she was here on a lecture tour? Except for references in the [Schx] Schreiner letters, I had never come across her name even . . . Now, according to the critics, she turns out to be the central figure in his autobiography. [*And, mention is made of her visit to America as lecturer in the twenties.*] Miss Van den Broek, who is typing this letter for me, sends her kindest remembrances, and so does my brother... As for myself, I never know how to express my sense of admiration and indebtedness. . . Yours affectionately, and with every good wish, Bertha S. Prapasian Mrs Papazian Columbia University in the City of New York [NEW YORK 27, N.Y.] SECRETARY OF THE UNIVERSITY January 24, 1949 Mrs. Bertha S. Papazian 61 Hamilton Place, Apt. 61 New York 31, New York Dear Madam: The Executive Officer of the Department of Comparative Linguistics is Professor Andre Martinet, who may be addressed at 401 Philosophy Hall, Columbia University. The instruction in Armenian is given by Dr. Armen Djeredjian. Very truly yours, Philip M Hayden Secretary of the University A Dear Miss B -- The clippings regarding Dr. Blackwell are for your scrap-book. B.S.P 61 Hamilton Place August 30, 1949 Dearest Miss Blackwell: I quite understand your feelings will regard to the matter of the Lucy Stone biography and Smith College's, and doubtless (or probably) should feel much the same in your place. However, on certain levels, at any rate. I am an extremely impersonal person - and could take up the cudgels in advocacy of Margaret Fuller's claims to distinction, or Emily Dickinson's, or any other admirable woman of your mother's generation, as of hers; and with neither less nor more sense of the need for judiciousness - Praises - ill-advised - can be much more harmful, as well as embarrassing than helpful. I remember the "Stone" biography vividly, perhaps because I reviewed it for “Unity;” and I found it - on objective lines - satisfactory and worthy, even, of you!!! I also liked Miss Florence Snow's letter, in reply to mine. She, too, felt that my suggestion of your name for honors was in all was fitting. But, my!, [*"Woman & Economics" are not among the books nominated. I shall feel its oversight to be as grievous as any oversight with reference to you! Lovingly & admiringly Bertha S. Papazian*] What days these are for crush and crowds over- and under-estimation, and forgetfulness. Time rights everything more or less! I am looking forward with the keenest interest to the revelations of the motives and standards that have been actuating the Committee in its selections- all of them honorable. I am sure. If Dr. Blackwell "Counsel to Parents" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Translator of Sophocles Poem TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES: In reporting the death of Mr. Forrestal you quote the poem which he apparently was reading at the time, a Chorus from Sophocles' Ajax. You do not, however, mention the name of the translator, Winthrop Mackworth Praed. It is almost as thoughtless, it seems to me, to quote a translation from Greek verse without giving the name of the translator as it would be to quote it without naming the author. Of course it is common practice to overlook mention of translators; this is probably one reason why translating, which is one of the most useful of all literary labors, is also often considered one of the least rewarding. KATE FLORES. Bayside, N. Y., May 23, 1949. [*NY 553 CENTRAL PARK AND FIFTH AVENUE HOTELS, NEW YOUR CITY. NATURAL Color Card FROM KODACHROME Published by Alfred Mainzer, 118 E. 28th St. New York City 16, N. Y.*] Dearest Miss Blackwell- We want to make sure that this fine comment on translations and translators does not escape your attention "None so poor to do them [*reverence" it seems, along, certain lines, at any rate!!! Respectful Salutation on this Memorial Day!!!*] [*Bertha S. Papazian*] 61 Hamilton Place New York 31 Aug 1949 Dearest Miss Blackwell: This is first of all, an acknowledgement of your - so-to-speak- postscript letter and its contents- the cheque so very very comforting to receive! All I can say at this particular moment is that though thanks are inadequate, however fervent, I send them from a yours "Lucy Stone" I might send it to the Committee as a reminder of what they have missed in not celebrating this memory of the woman assumed it to be a gift! Always with devotion affection & gratitude, Bertha S. Papazian full heart - and with the earnest hope that some day it may be in my power to make the more substantial returns to you toward which I have been striving. The very long novel, for which as yet I have not been able to find a publisher and which has been lying - eloquent of my endeavors but inarticulate as far as the world is concerned must be "peddled" anew and in pars - as panels. Meanwhile my most lively expectations of promptish financial returns continue to hover over the book-length essay on "Our Times"* from a Feministic point of view, which tho' newly completed, requires a few more months of work. A heart, which doctors assure me is seriously damaged, compels more caution and more who did so much to 'add lustre (luster) to the history of Western Mass. But, alas, even the one you gave me has been appropriated by the lady to whom I lent it - she a fine woman - having *Of course my title is not "Our Times" which is Mark Sullivan's - but one quite my own, and very relevant and striving restriction of work and movement than I like to submit to; and, of course, along with the spinal injuries keep me always in pain. However, I have so very much to be thankful for that I am scarcely aware of anything but my wish to accomplish my purposes in spite of limitations; and the burden of an intensely hearty and continuous anxiety because of the absence of that all-important item -- financial means. (I go into all this largely because I think you - tho the least exacting of friends - are entitled to know something of how matters really stand.) I am enclosing the letter in response to my "inquiry" sent to Smith College, expressing the hope (and expectation) that you were among those women to be honored on their 75th anniversary. You can see for yourself from it how the matter seems to stand. If I owned a copy of 61 Hamilton Place, Apt. 61 New York 31, N.Y. Dearest Miss Blackwell: It is a joy to have your letter, and to know that you are -- noticeably well! I can now confess openly that I had been extremely anxious about you especially, during that hot spell. It surprises me to learn that you have not been "in" on the Smith College your high claims - just in case they have been over-looked; and to suggest your two books of translations, your biography of your mother, and "The Little Grandmother of the Russian Revolution" as "musts" for the "Display." And this I shall at once do. Also, I shall mention the honorary degree, conferred on you not long ago, by Boston University; and say that I hope Smith College will avail itself of the same privilege - so plans - I supposed - assumed - you would be one of the first to be consulted; and certainly one of the top most on any honor list the Committee may have in mind - As you will note, if you have the press clipping I sent reread to you, nothing was said in it about any individual woman or any individual woman's work - which means that it will be perfectly proper for me to remind them of appropriate in all respects; and, further, I shall recall the linkage of Lucy Stone's struggle for the Higher Education with that of women in general and which - together with the struggle of the Blackwell Sisters - continues to bear such good fruit. There is no need of a reply from you to this note. I shall write [the] my letter to the Committee in any case. Always with admiration and gratitude of the deepest Yours affectionatel August 19, 1949 Bertha S. Papazian Copy of letter sent to Smith College By B. S. P 61 Hamilton Place Apartment 61 August 19, 1949 New York. 31, Dear Madam; A brief news item in The New York Times has informed me that Smith College is planning to hold, throughout the coming academic year, a Convocation during which honorary degrees are to the conferred on twelve American Women and on five women from foreign countries; and seventy-five of the more important books, written by women since the foundation of the College, are to be [displayed] on "display." I am writing to express the hope that Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, of 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Mass., is to be among the twelve American Women thus honored, and that some of her books are to be among those displayed. A few years ago, under similar circumstances - in celebration of an anniversary or other outstanding event, I mean - Boston University - Miss Blackwell's Alma Mater - availed itself of conferring on her - one of the most distinguished of it's alumnae - the degree of Doctor of Humanities; and for some time, I understand, has had in its literary a section known as The Alice Stone Blackwell Alcove. Among Miss Blackwell's more important II and influential works are her volumes of translations from Spanish-American and Armenian Poetry - the former now published by the University of Pennsylvania Press - and, of course, her biography of her mother, Lucy Stone, published, if I remember correctly, by Appleton Co. of New York. But "The Little Grandmother of the Russian Revolution: Reminiscences and Letters of Catherine Breshkovsky - published in 1917 by Little Brown Co. of Boston, which she edited, is also a work worthy of recognition - recording, as it does, aristocracy who did not think exile, and other forms of persecution, too high a price to pay in the Cause of Freedom. The "Lucy Stone" Volume, an account of one woman's struggle for the Higher Education, and for Human Rights for all the oppressed, including Negroes, links itself naturally with the struggle of her sisters-in-law, the Doctors Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, and the Reverend Antoinette Brown Blackwell in their efforts to obtain degrees in Medicine and Theology all of which has borne so many blessing for those who have come after them. May I congratulate you on the opportunity before you of bringing these great benefactors - past and present, to the attention of the public mind and especially that of the rising generation. Very sincerely yours (Mrs) Bertha S. Papazian To the Chairman of the Convocation Committee Smith College Northampton, Mass 61 Hamilton Place, Apartment 61 New York 31, N. Y. June 23, 1949 Beloved Miss Blackwell: The enclosed clippings may or may not be "news" to you or - as you may think, even especially suitable for your "Alcove" in Boston University Library; but, if you don't know of the events they signalize they are bound to bring you happiness and in my judgment as a sort of harvest-home - they have actually a special right to be placed among your personal memorabilias. 3 part of the New World's "lend-lease" to the Old World in Halvdan Koht's book, "The American Spirit in Europe" (as reviewed last Sunday in The Times by Henry Steele Commager, Professor of History in Columbia University) was refreshing, to say the very least. Mr. Koht, as you may know, was formerly Norway's foreign minister - so, after all, in spite of what he calls "the grossest misconceptions" on the part of Europeans concerning 2 The appointment of a woman, Dr. Mary E. Lyman; to a full professorship in Union Theological Seminary here - the first woman to achieve such a post in any American theological school - might well be classed among such reckonings - as are usually labeled Decisive Battles in the History of the World - don't you think so? And the inclusion of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell's work along with that of the Founding Fathers, Elihu Burrit, and Henry George as 4. American's and, at best, "the parochial and grudging attitude" of European historians,- justice is, at last, on its way to being done!!! We thought of Rev. Antoinnette Brown Blackwell when we read of Dr. Mary E. Lyman's "triumph." I could not help recalling that even so great a man as Ruskin thought the ministry, and all that pertains thereto, was a field on which- as women valued the decrees of the Eternal Fitnesses and Verities, they should forbear to intrude Also, and very very 5 naturally we thought of you last week when via the radio we heard Mrs. Margaret Bondfield, Britian's former Labor Minister;* and, on the same program, a woman doctor- trained in the New York Infirmary - and the first woman to "ride an ambulance" - horse-drawn, of course, in the streets here - a spectacle so extraordinary that it seldom failed to attract in its trail, a crowd of racing boys! [**who knew and worked with William Morris, Edward Carpenter, George Bernard Shaw - and others among the great*] really begun to show what it could do, in the way of souring milk, and keeping people confined to their homes, if not well, and such. I am assuming that the long letter - dated May 25, I believe - in which I referred to the use I'd made of your translation of Beshiktashlian's poems - "We are Brothers - and my wish to have recordings made of recitations of that - and others among your translations - has reached you. In it I requested a line from you to the [*Devotedly always And with renewed appreciations, Bertha S. Papazian*] 6 As usual we have been thinking much of your state of health - during this long torrid spell as you, no doubt - true to form - have been thinking much of ours. And we have been hoping, with all our hearts, that you are continuing to feel as well as when last you wrote - which was in May - before the heat had effect that you'd be glad to have me do so - this in anticipation of the formalities required before even a recording can be made - or as the Powers that Be put it, before any thing vocal or musical can be regarded as "cleared" for public presentation. I'm not even by any means sure that my voice would stand the testing - preliminary to the serious matter of making the recordings but if it would I might possibly in this way build up a little source of revenue for my brother as well as for me. There seems to be a movement on toward such an interest in vocalized poetry as was not for a long time known. Pleasantry to excuse all the erasures. I've been so completely engrossed by my effort to defend against mischance the ideas I've been trying to formulate in that essay that I often forget to eat Devotedly always [*The New York Times of Friday June 17 1949 17, 1979*] First Woman Elected To Staff of Seminary Dr. Mary E. Lyman Dr. Mary Ely Lyman, dean of Sweet Briar College, has been elected the first woman faculty member of Union Theological Seminary, Broadway and 120th Street, it was announced yesterday. Her term will begin with the academic year 1950-51. Benjamin Strong, president of the seminary’s board of directors, said Dr. Lyman will be one of the first women to hold a full professorship in an American theological school. He described her close affiliation with Union Seminary. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College in 1911, she received her Bachelor of Divinity degree, magna cum laude, at the seminary in 1919, and received the Philadelphia Travelling Fellowship for a year’s post-graduate work at Cambridge University in England. After teaching biblical literature for six years at Vassar College, she married the late Dr. Eugene W. Lyman, Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Union Seminary. For two years, Mrs. Lyman lectured in English Bible at Union Seminary and served as an associate in religion at Barnard College. 61 Hamilton Place New York 31, 1947 Dearest Miss Blackwell: Can you imagine being so overwhelmed by a kindness that you would be scarcely able to say "Thank you"? I don't believe you can. You are far too well-balanced to let compunctions and regrets stand in the way of the obligations imposed by Courtesy. As for me, I've been living in a kind of daze— [*Can see how hard it will be for me to deal with her in the pages of what I hope will be a piece of polite literature - I've just had a note from Mary Deran- She mentions "Aunt Alice" lovingly. Adoringly, I am always yours, Bertha S. Papazian*] uncomfortable state of soul to be in- However, this is only one way- and by no means the best or most appropriate way of sending you heartiest thanks for the big Christmas surprise which, though it did , and still does, increase my heavy sense of indebtedness, gives me wings too which I hope I shall be able to use to some advantage to myself and others - once the New Year comes. There is so very much work waiting lighted by gratefulness and by assurances - some of them homely and others of a more etherial nature - but still a daze made more dense and disquieting by the knowledge that up to date I don't seem to have been able to repay even the slightest part of my many obligations to you or to anyone except, perhaps, those whom I have tried to serve in a public way! And this last, let me tell you, is a very to be done in the world- My next task - in the book-length essay I am trying to complete - is to challenge the anti-feminist slanders and charges contained in "Modern Women: the Lost Sex" by Marynia Farnham M.D. and Ferdinand Lundberg. She refers to the American women who led the suffrage movement as a "crew” whose faces, as pictured in The History of Woman Suffrage (if that is the exact title- reflect the repressed physical passions that were consuming them and more- oh, very much more. From the brave and wonderful Mary Wollstonecraft d own, not one of them escapes her venom - implied or spilled - except Nightingale and [*one or two others. The Doctors Blackwell and their heroism to which she owes her place in life she is too sneaky to mention. But - well - you (continued on page one) *] 61 Hamilton Place New York 31, N.Y. Jan. 28, 1948 Dearest Miss Blackwell: It is wonderful to have, over your own signature, those words spoken by your mother in her last illness, and treasured by you all these years. Together with the words spoken by Dr. Charles Gordon Ames in his eulogy - "She was conscience incarnate -- with the smile and voice of an angel" plus the work she did and the reforms she effected they form than a month ago, and that is a cause for reforcing. Did you know that the Druids were sun-worshipers? Perhaps your secretary has already clipped this notice from the Times for your scrap-books. I've been sending it for you, to make sure that the needs of the benefit performance on April. 26 of Verdi's "Requiem" by the National Broadcasting Symphony under the baton of Arthur Toscanini did not escape your attention. But no doubt the trustees of the New York infirmary keep you informed on all such matters. If they don't, they ought to TOSCANINI TO CONDUCT AT INFIRMARY BENEFIT A performance of Verdi's "Requiem" will be given for the benefit of the New York Infirmary by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini conducting, and the Collegiate Chorale, under the direction of Robert Shaw, on the evening of April 26 in Carnegie Hall. Mr. Toscanini has not conducted the work since 1940. Proceeds of the concert will be devoted to the building fund of the infirmary, which is endeavoring to raise $5,00,000 to construct a modern and fully equipped hospital. The infirmary, founded in 1857 by Elizabeth Blackwell, said to have been the first woman doctor in the United States, has women doctors only as members of its staff. Mrs. David Sarnoff, chairman of the concert committee, is being assisted by Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip, president of the institution's board of trustees, and Samuel Chotzinoff, chairman of the benefit's music committee. The executive committee of the infirmary's auxiliary is headed by Mrs. Harold B. Hall. Tickets may be obtained from the concert committee at the Plaza. II a very moving picture-or I should say a veritably moving picture-that cannot fail to inspire hundreds and thousands of fine young women and men in the generations to come. Excuse me, please, for being so late in sending my thanks. The weather is partly to blame for the delay. Not that I have been out in it but that it manages to get inside only too often with "congealing" consequences. However, we are all are of-the return of the sun from the depths to which it descended more Another sign that good work goes marching on, I find in the frequency with which the Infirmary and its founders keep getting into the news- Already the sale of tickets is mounting satisfactorily though the date of the concert is a long way off- It seems singularly appropriate that music so noble as that Requiem should have been selected for the occasion- Will the Blackwell sisters and Miss Barry-Blackwell be hovering in spirit about the place as well as in the hearts of the audience - do you think? I hope you have managed to keep free of colds and such - you and your household this winter. You are more or less always in my thoughts, and always of course in my heart and blessed remembrances- Affectionately, Bertha S. Papazian Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.