NAWSA GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Wilson, Mrs. Halsey (Justina) January 16, 1918 My dear Mrs. Catt: I am sending you the minutes of our noon-day meeting today. It was brief and to the point. Before Mrs. Shulor went away she said that she had kept you informed on the replies from the newly appointed chairmen of the National's standing committees. Mrs. Griffin and Mrs. Robins are the only two who have declined to act. We are so glad that you had the big success of the 10th to hearten you during these days of cold and problems. Loyally yours, w-6 (Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson) Recording Secretary. January 23, 1918. My dear Mrs. Catt:- I have felt that I cannot afford and that the National cannot afford to have spend one minute around Headquarters that is not fully occupied. Consequently, I have been using my judgement about coming down and have charged up my salary only for days spent here. On the days that I am in the office I find plenty to do, and other days I am devoting at present to my Voters' Hand Book and some book reviewing. I am writing to you with the thought that you may have some definite piece of work that you would like to have me to. You spoke of work on the Constitution when you made your assignment, assuming that you wished me to attend to inquires about the Constitution. I have made a card file of parallel passages from the old and newly amended Constitution for quick reference. To date there have been only two letters asking for information about the Constitution. For reference purposes also, I have been getting out lists of Board members of the Executive Council and of committees for my file. Another thing has been an office inventory. -2- I wish to add that if there is work for three days each week which you want me to do. I shall be glad to come down Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays during the weeks of Monday holidays. Wishing you the best of success in lining up the Senators, I am Loyally yours, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, 1626 Rhode Island Avenue, Washington, D. C. February 16, 1918 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, 1626 Rhode Island Avenue, Washington, D. C. My dear Mrs. Catt: The Hospital Unit exercised its new authority by making Dr. von Scholly treasurer of the Unit abroad. This action was not acceptable to the bank. Miss Hay called me up and asked me to get a vote from the members of the board making Dr. von Scholly assistant treasurer. I was able to secure a vote from five members over the telephone, and I will make note of it and have it confirmed at the first meeting of the Headquarters Committee. Loyally yours, W-8 (Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson) Recording Secretary February 20, 1918. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, 1626 Rhode Island Avenue, Washington, D. C. My dear Mrs. Catt:- When you received Bulletin #4, perhaps you wondered why #5 was not mailed with it, as you suggested. Miss Coller had #4 run off under date of February 20th and mine was to go through the 21st, as planned, when Miss Ogden discovered an error, for which she was not responsible, that would delay the publication of the Handbook perhaps a week. Miss Coller and I talked the matter over and concluded that, inasmuch as Bulletin #4 was ready to mail and that the publication of the Handbook was uncertain, she better send out #4. I hope that this meets with your approval. Loyally yours, Recording Secretary February 27, 1918. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, 1626 Rhode Island Avenue, Washington, D. C. My dear Mrs. Catt:- I am enclosing a copy of Bulletin Number 5, which I hope will increase the usefulness of the Handbook. I have tried to make the guide show readily and concisely the full scope of suffrage activities and the departments organized for carrying on the work. The filing table has been delivered, but we are having trouble in getting the cards for it. In the meantime I am collecting material which will contribute to the new scheme. I leave for Baltimore Sunday, to be gone for three or four days. By the time I return, I hope that the drive in the Senate will be successfully over. Loyally yours, Recording Secretary March 11, 1918. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, 1626 Rhode Island Avenue, Washington, D. C. My dear Mrs. Catt:- Knowing your aversion to longhand, I delayed sending you a report of the Baltimore Speakers' School, until my return, when I might have a letter typewritten. I should say that the school was a great success from every point of view, -registration, interest and results. A great deal of publicity was given the work and when the clippings reach me, -Mrs. Mallory has promised to send me a full set - I will send you one of the best reports. We had two classes daily with a combined registration of about seventy-five. That number included a few who attended an occasional session, but[t] the great majority came every day, rain or shine. Regarding the question you asked, I found that thirty-three had come into the class as a result of your meeting in Baltimore. Some of the thirty-three had heard you the night you were there and some had been moved by the enthusiasm of friends who had heard you. The practical hints that you dropped throughout the course of your illustrated speech that night, made a great hit -3- Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Washington, D. C. March 11, 1918. and had a far-reaching effect as the underlined sentence in the enclosed clipping indicates. My impression is that there is a big field and a great need for just this sort of training class[es] and that there ought to be more of them [this ought to be more generally carried on.] Loyally yours, Recording Secretary May 15, 1918 Mrs. Catt,- On account of the delicacy of the situation concerning Mrs. Strange I took it for granted that you would wish to take up with her the action of the Board at Indianapolis. But do you want me to add any formal note of the Board's appreciation of her work and of her appointment as chairman or the committee to raise funds for the Hospital Unit? Also, shall I send any word to Augusta with a copy of the resolution as passed at Indianapolis? Justine L. Wilson August 26, 1918 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, 1626 Rhode Island Avenue, Washington, D. C. Dear Mrs. Catt: In reply to your letter to Miss Anthony, President of the Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association, concerning my going to Rhode Island, she says that she will be glad to arrange for me an all day Board meeting for Tuesday, September 10th: the 9th or 11th will suit her as well. She would like to have the final word from you as soon as possible in order to make plans in good season for the meeting. I am forwarding the message to you because when you left for Washington you had not decided about Maine, and I take it that my going to Rhode Island hinges on the trip to some other New England state. There is one more week's work that I can do in Vermont to excellent advantage --- work in the Bellows Falls and Brattleboro section where Anti suffrage sentiment runs high. I have in view a young woman to take the county chairmanship, a friend of Mrs. Livermore's - capable, well-to-do, with abundant time on her hands who promised to take charge of the petition work in her county if I would return for a week and help her get it started. She assisted me capably in securing interviews with Republicans during my recent trip to Vermont. She made up her mind, as a spoiled child might, that she wanted me to start her and no one else. If in your judgment is it is wise to combine the trip to Rhode Island with a week in Vermont and let the Maine matter work its way out more slowly, I hold myself in readiness to go. Very faithfully yours, JLW-S (Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson) March My very dear Mrs. Wilson: It is with sorrow in my heart that I realize we are closing this great organization to which you have so long, and so faithfully, devoted yourself, and I cannot do that without telling you again how much it has meant to me in these last years since Mrs. Catt herself turned over the winding up of the N.A.W.S.A. to me. It has been a privilege and an honor to work with you, and I knew always that we both were trying, in the [s]le]ast days of its official existence, to carry on as Mrs. Catt would have wished us to do. What Mrs. Catt could have done without the generous and remarkable help give to her, and the suffrage movement, by your splendid husband I do not know. His was a unique service for which there is not adequate thanks. I send you both my heartfelt appreciation. Blessings on you both in everything that you do. Faithfully yours Mrs. F. Louis Slade. Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, Greenhold, Croton Heights, Yorktown Heights, New York. January 11, 1919 Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, Pavilion Hotel. Montpelier, Vermont. My dear Mrs. Wilson:- I fear I cut you off rather curtly the other day. The truth was I arrived in Concord at ten o'clock and at eleven o'clock was in the Legislature. At the moment that I was called to the telephone, we were expecting to have our hearing announced any minute and I did not want that to happen while I was out of the room. I did not know anything to tell you so had nothing to say. We had our hearing and the resolution passed the House by a good vote. It will come up in the New Hampshire Senate on Tuesday and our fate depends upon what will transpire there. If the Senate is resigned and will permit the resolution to pass, we are all right for the vote in Washington. If, however, the minority is going to fight, which is more probable. the resolution may be sent to a committee or a filibuster begun. What I fear more than anything else is that the friends who have promised to support the resolution will back out and save their faces by absenting themselves when the vote takes place so as to reduce the number of favorable below the necessary majority. We are, therefore, looking forward with great anxiety to what will take place in New Hampshire next week. I suggest that you continue to line up the Vermont Legislature on ratification upon the supposition that we are going to have it. I will say to you privately that in the event we do not get the resolution from New Hampshire next week, our chances are extremely small of getting through at all. The very moment that this matter comes to a head, we shall inform all the presidents. I suggest in that case that Vermont introduce a presidential suffrage bill and indeed there is no harm in introducing that now and that it goes to work very hard on presidential suffrage. You will see that having secured the pledge of men on ratification which would give full suffrage, you can go back with a plea that the women have been robbed of what should have been theirs and they will be the more willing to give them the partial suffrage. -2- Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, Montpelier, Vermont. January 11, 1919. Mrs. Cunningham and Miss Marjorie Shuler have gone to Florida to see if they can secure a petition of a majority of the Legislature to Senator Trammell. This is quiet and confidential information as is the statement that unless we get the New Hampshire Legislative resolution we may lose our chance of a vote in Washington. They sent word to this office to send the reports of Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Dudley on Florida. As a matter of fact, we do not know what there is to send. Your report in the Citizen is good as far as it goes, but it does not contain confidential matter and whether there is anything in the office which we can find to give any help, we do not know. I will ask you, immediately upon receipt of this letter, to write to Miss Shuler, c/o Windsor Hotel, Jacksonville, Florida, and give her any pointers you are able to pick up. I think, myself, it was a wild goose chase, but they may have some information which I do not possess. The men have always thought that Senator Trammell spoke rather favorably. My advice to you is that you stay in Vermont and do what you can to bolster up the state organization and the work. I wish to say to you confidentially that at the hearing in New Hampshire the other day, the antis brought the inevitable Massachusetts woman and that both the Massachusetts women and the New Hampshire women made the statement that ninety per cent. at least did not want the vote and were opposed to having it thrust upon them. New Hampshire was one of the states that simply would not do the petition work and they had no rejoinder which they could make. So far as anything they know themselves the statement may be true and of course it is a powerful influence with the opposition. It may turn out that because those women did not do that work, we may lose our vote in Washington. Or if not, then we may lose the ratification. Tell the Vermont women they must be prepared to defend themselves against that statement when the final test comes. Vermont will send the ratification to a hearing in any event, I feel sure, and they must be prepared for it. Please report in the meantime what progress has been made and what you think of the Legislature. Before the end of next week, I shall write or wire you about our prospects in Washington. Loving yours, Carrie Chapman Catt President P.S. After dictating the above your letter was received. I will not do more than acknowledge it now and to say that you are quite right in your attitude, I believe. The Bills you mention see good to me and your psychology seems also a wise one. Just keep things held back a little until we can definitely inform you what our prospects are. I know you feel uniformed, but when we do not send you any word, it is because nothing new has transpired. We shall inform you by letter or even by wire if things grow definite one way or the other. As to a public meeting in Montpelier, I might be willing to come to it -3- but you might possibly work a hearing before the entire Legislature on ratification. I think that will bring in the antis, but it might be worth while. I would not be willing to come up for such a hearing for a little piece meal speech. One must have time to present the case and that I do not feel we had in New Hampshire. We had half an hour advance, as had the antis. We had four speakers and I had twelve minutes. I had the rebuttal which was ten minutes, but it was not enough. I should like one-half hour for an advance speech and I do not care whether I have the rebuttal or somebody else. Just at present it would not be advisable for me to leave the office as we have no officers here except Miss Ogden and she has work of her own and is not very familiar with the work of our office. A few days may change the prospect. I will let you know and bear in mind that there may be a possible call to Vermont. C.C.C Susan B. Anthony Memorial, Inc. 17 Madison Street Rochester 8, New York 429 Seneca Parkway Rochester 13, 1947 February 26, 1947 Dear Mrs. Wilson; I know you will want to hear about our opening tea on the 14th. I should have written you before- but there is always one thing after another to do. I am [?] enclosing a carbon copy of the letter which I wrote Mrs. Catt and that will save me from writing it out for you. I hope you saw some of the publicity in the papers. Mrs. Catt writes me that her friends in various parts of the country have sent clippings from papers so she knows that it went out through the Associated Press. I am enclosing the material which we have sent to people in our work of getting a membership in the Corporation. You will observe that I have used a quotation from a letter you wrote me. It is VERY EFFECTIVE- and I am so glad that you wrote it in a letter. I used it in my article for the N.Y.Eveing Sun of Feb. 14th. Also I sent it to Senator Capper of Kansas and he used it on the 14th in his tribute in the Senate-so it is recorded in the Congressional Record of 14th. The desk which you sent is beautiful- and has a place of honor in the Museum Room now. What a lovely letter which you sent about it showing such a nice spirit in giving it up. I fell that you make a great sacrifice to let it go from your beautiful home. Be assued that I appreciated it all. I am glad that you wrote me about your beautiful home which is also historic- and that you have been able to make it so harmonious. I am glad that you made suggestions about the restoration of Miss Anthony's house. The Board of Trustees have that same idea. We are proceeding slowly so as to make no mistakes. So far we have papered and painted the two bedrooms for the G.I. and his mother who are the caretakers. Then the best bedroom was papered and painted for a Museum Room- a tan shade. Mrs. Elson Hunting Hooker of N.Y. City sent $100.00 which we used in restoring Miss Anthony's bedroom. It is very satisfactory. Now we a re considering doing the diing room and the front hall -upstairs and down stairs. A man here who loves antiques and has money has said he would buy a mahogany sideboard and t able and chairs for the dining room- maybe a silver service. We are painting and papering it in a correct way. Then I suppose the Woman's Alliance of the Unitarian Church will do the "front parlor" because Miss Anthony attended that church. And the alumnae of the Woman's College will do the "back parlor." They will confer with each other and with the consultant and the chairman of the restoration -so I feel all will be done correctly. I feel that when we get the house restored it will be a great place of interest and inspiration. It should be that because of the great woman who lived there and the work which she did. If you ever have any suggestions I hope you will send them. And some time I hope you will come and see the house. With appreciation of your interest and your contribution of the desk I am, Loyally, Martha G. Howard (Mrs. George Howard) Susan B. Anthony Memorial, Inc. 17 Madison Street Rochester 8, New York 429 Seneca Parkway Rochester 13, New York January 20, 1950 Dear Mrs. Wilson; I feel like saying- "bless your heart" for sending that lovely picture of Mrs. Catt inscribed to you. Wish your name was on it. And what a beautiful easel frame. It is just [?] the kind of work Bachrach would do. It was well boxed and protected. I was sitting here in my home trying to catch up on my mail which accumulates so fast- when the door bell ran and the expressman left the special delivery package. It gave me such a joy and inspiration to have that picture arrive. I felt that it was like a blessing to me. As you say -when it is on that beautiful desk you so unselfishly sent then we hope as people look it it they will be blessed and inspired. That was our thought in buying the house and making it a memorial that people would get a blessing and inspiration in coming to the house where we keep green the memory of Miss Anthony and others. And I always perseverance, devotion to a cause, etc. I never look at that beautiful desk you sent -but I think unconsciously of how GOOD you were in sending it. I know it was very precious to you and you made a great sacrifice in giving it to us. I think of your lovely home-as you have described it to me, and how much a part of it was this desk. All the people who see it always exclaim over its beauty. We put it in Miss Anthony's study. In the Museum Room there are two cases of exhibits, a book case and Mrs. Catt's immense desk. That is all this room would hold. But having Mrs. Catt's first deak in the study it gets more attention I think. I am glad you wrote to me you were disappointed that credit was not given to you in the newspapers. I say glad-because I would not want you to keep that to yourself-it is right that should know it. I do not recall just when those newspaper accounts appeared. In articles for the papers one has to be careful not to make it too involved - so I suppose the desk was just mentioned as Mrs. Catt's and no reference to you as the owner and donor. When Mrs. Catt sent the check for $700 to pay off the mortgage it came out in the papers so she wrote me that she had collected the money from her friends in New Rochelle. I don't know how that came out for I knew it was from her Board. I didn't see that account. I have a typed statement about the desk and donor on the desk. But it would seem nice to have you write such a statement which will be what you wish and make it as coming after the dissolving of the suffrage board-and then you can tell how many years you served. What a faithful person you were/ This could be typed and then framed or it could be printed by hand if you know some one who does good work like that. Miss Wilson had such a statement done by hand and framed -all about the other desk. I wrote the statements for the various rooms and then one of the men at the Museum did it by hand with his pen-very well done. these are framed for each room. We want credit to be given everywhere. I can never tell you what a help Mrs. Catt and you were to me at the start. Mrs. Catt wrote me many letters and these I have in a folder. I refer to them for information and inspiration. She was so interested in having the house a memorial. I am SO GLAD that I had her backing and the benefit of her experience. I our letters gave me the idea of having everything done in harmony and good taste. And people who come -always exclaim about the good taste and decor. The wall papers are so suitable. I wish you might come and see the house. I was glad that the Board voted to give $1000 to the Memorial but I must say I was disappointed that it was not more. Mrs. Catt had written me letters about the Trust Fund and it was her personal wish that a good share should come to the house. Miss Anthony's cousin had set up the Trust Fund and Mrs. Catt wrote she felt nothing would please Melissa Dickinson better than to have the home of her "sainted cousin" preserved. Mrs. Catt had been the means of having $1000.00 ($700 of it from the Leslie Fund) come to start an endowment. She wanted to build up an endowment fund. But we know her last days were full with arranging for the hanging of the pictures here - a plan being drawn for it; and the making of a catalogue etc. And then she passed on. She wanted us to have an endowment. I was sorry that she did not get around to a codicil to her will, leaving us something. I thought the suffrage board would give at least $4000 to add to that previous $1000 and call the $5000 the Carrie Chapman Catt Endowment. Some one wrote me the board was interested in something living. They didn't realize that this home is a very living thing- we are keeping alive the work of the suffragists. Mrs. Catt in one letter wrote that this place would be the only thing to remind the world of the what the suffragists did. I could tell you much of all the commendation which has been given to this place. Mrs. Ethel Adamson of N.J. who secured the Susan B. Anthony Stamp was much interested in the house and all told she had given $500.00 She came to see the place. Last summer she was instantly killed in an auto accident. She was a widow and had means. But she had not made a codicil to her will. So here are three disappointments:- Mrs. Catt's will; the vote of the suffrage board; and Mrs. Adamson's will. But think of all the disappointments the suffragists had and never gave in. I am not one who would ever want to ask any suffragists to make a bequest. Mrs. Catt said she would-but she has gone on. If the suffragists are not interested in helping to endow the place -who can we expect to be/ Some men when we raised the money to buy the house sent $100 in memory of a mother who worked with Miss Anthony. I have worked up the Living Endowment Edea. $1.00 is the 3 interest on $100.00 So if a person cannot give $100 she might give the interest and so become a LIVING ENDOWMENT. $2.00 would be for $200.00 and $5.00 for $500 It is this Living Endowment which maintains the house. I had hoped that every member of Mrs. Catt's Board would be interested. A few have. I can't turn to Mrs. Slade as I did to Mrs. Catt for it does not seem as though she was interested. She herself did not give when the other members of the Board did to Mrs. Catt. There may have been reasons. It seems as though her interest was with the League of Women Voters and so the wishes of Mrs. Catt that a good share of the Trust Fund come here -were disregarded in favor of the League of Women Voters, Well I must be very grateful that the Memorial was given $1000.00 But It was not what Mrs. Catt would have expected. I suppose the Trust Fund was $34,000 -since $5000 went to the International Suffrage; $25,000 to the League and $1000 here. Hadn't the Fund shrunk a good deal? Wasn't it originally at least $50,000? I know we have your loyal interest in the house. If you can think of any way of our interesting women in being members of the Corporation- let me know. We have three Corporation meetings a year- and at other times board meeting. There are sixty out of town members -most of whom are my friends who want to help. All told we have nearly 300 members. We will have a meeting on Feb. 14-the day before Miss A's birthday. Three women in costumes will represent the Great Triumvirate. A professor in a High School will tell how he is interesting young people in Miss A. Dr. Williams of the Unitarian Church which she attended will pay tribute. On the morning of the 15th some of us will go to Miss A's grave and place evergreen wreaths. It is her 130th birthday. I have asked Margaret Chase Smith- senator from Maine to pay tribute to Miss A. in the Senate. On her 125th birthday Senator Capper of Kansas did it for me. Now I have tried to tell you the news for I know you are interested. If you have any suggestions I shall be so glad to have them. And I do thank you for the desk and for the picture. I take it that you kept the original but had a copy made by Bachrach. in the statement for the desk- be sure to say the picture was given to you- as the picture does not give your name. All good wishes. Loyally M.G. Howard (Mrs. George Howard) Mrs. C. C. C. #2 Dillingham has said that when 51% of the women of Vermont want the suffrage, he will vote yes. Our petition work among the women of Vermont is not advanced enough to be of service, but I am gathering together correct data concerning the numbers voting in the municipal election last spring, and am getting it into the most convincing shape possible. May I hear from you? Please send letter in care of Mrs. A. L. Bailey, St. Johnsbury, Vt. Very loyally yours, (c) Justine K Wilson (Ms. Halsey W.) Lake Minnetonka Bungalow For Sale The H.W. Wilson property on Shady Island, Lake Minnetonka, is offered for sale because of the owner's removal from Minneapolis to New York. The grounds, with 135 feet of south shore front, twenty feet or more above the lake, the most desirable frontage on the island, includes two-thirds of an acre. The well keep lawn boasts of many of the finest of the maples, elms, oaks and lindens that, three or four decades ago, gave the island its name. The bungalow, unusually artistic and habitable, is modern in every way and adapted to the practical as well as the aesthetic needs of the lake dweller who demands harmony, comfort, beauty with freedom and abandon of a summer in the country. Facts Concerning Shady Island Five years ago Shady Island was bought by the Minnetonka Realty Company with a view of working out a colony scheme. A central water plant was established: the central portion of the island was reserved for a tennis court, gardens, etc., ice houses were erected. During the five years a high class community has grown up, and every resident votes this particular spot the most delightful to be found anywhere around the lake. Transportation Facilities At present the island is reached by street car to Wildhurst and ten minute express boat trip from that point. The street car landing at Shady Island is two hundred feet from the bungalow for sale. In addition to the street car route there is immediate prospect of an automobile road to the island. A road has already been built from Shady Island to and across Enchanted Island, a distance of more than a mile, at an expense of about five thousand dollars. It is expected that a bridge at Zimmerman's Pass will soon connect this road with mainland and the new concrete automobile road on the other shore. Some Items Included In Sale (1) A seven room bungalow with a twenty-four by twenty-six foot living room, artistic fire place, polished maple floors throughout the bungalow: bath with hot water connections. (2) Artistic mission furniture, Mehlin piano in excellent condition, library, couches, window-seat cushions, rugs, complete kitchen and dining room equipment, wood or coal range, perfection oil stove, large refrigerator. (3) Motor boat (cost $840.00) in excellent condition. (4) Boat house. (5) Wood house with full house and garden tool equipment, and with complete laundry outfit. May be inspected at any time by appointment. Youth Youth is not a time of life – it is a state of mind. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, vigor of the emotions. It is a freshness of the deep things of life. Youth means a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite of adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of fifty more than in a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. Whether seventy or sixteen there is in every being's heart a love of wonder, the amazement at the stars and the starlike things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what next, and the joy in the game of life. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. In the central place of your heart there is a wireless station. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, grandeur, courage and power from the earth, from men and from the Infinite, so long you are young. International Paper Monthly The Season's Greetings Justina and Halsey Wilson [*(over)] [*WCC_Victory*] From the studio of PAUL L. RABUT 2665 BAINBRIDGE AVENUE NEW YORK CITY TEL. RAYMOND 9-7280 April 28, 1940 [*Pla 3-7204] Mrs. H W. Wilson Concourse Plaza Bronx, New York Dear Mrs. Wilson - Enclosed are sketches showing the ideas, in rough format, you discussed with me last Thursday – The first shows the design for the photo of the woman in whose memory the book is being printed. Naturally, the design may be elaborated upon or simplified, as you wish. - It will also be smaller than shown here, in the book. For the little design of the women marching, there are two suggestions "A" + "B". The principal difference between the two is merely a different grouping. - I included one figure carrying the American flag to specifically denote this as the American woman's March, etc I trust that these will be of some help, when discussing the matter with your commitee, and shall await word from you before doing anything further. At that time we can discuss any further suggestions you may wish to make. Sincerely yours, Jane L. Rabut You may reach me at Plaza 3-7204 during the day. The studio address is 10 E. 53 St. MRS. HALSEY W. WILSON 900 GRAND CONCOURSE NEW YORK CITY May 21, 1941 Dear Mrs. Stantial: Mr. Evans sent me today your letter of May 14th. I did not realize that I had been responsible for its delay in the list of 250 or more names for envelopes. We do want those women to know about "Victory", however, and I am suggesting to you, with Mr. Wilson's approval, the return to the sale of copies of the book to you for 85 cents, your selling them for $1.00 in lots of five or more or less instead instead of 25 minimum, and making it 15 cents for your organization. We should never have ended that arrangement with you. It was my doing. If you would like to handle the books this way your orders may go to Mr. Evans and the book will be shipped by the Company to each of your buyers. Do you care to try this plan? Mr. Wilson will handle all library orders at the regular price of $1.25. The lower rate is made to you to get your help in running off the Edition to women who ought to have it. If you know of any one in any state who might do the same thing, please let us know. If you prefer to handle the whole situation, please do. Last Friday evening at the White House marked the climax of a great career. It was so fitting after the splendid Congress, after the weeks of putting the suffrage house in order, and after completing the final details of turning over a great library to the Library of Congress, to call Mrs. Catt to the Nation's Executive Mansion and honor her by awarding her the National Achievement medal. I shall never cease to be grateful that I could go down to Washington with Mrs. Catt, be present at the intimate dinner on Thursday evening, go with her to the Library of Congress for the ceremony of presentation of the final volumes in her Feminist Library and then to join the fine assemblage of women in the East Room of the White House on Friday evening. It is all a glorious memory! I am so glad you were there too. Let us hear from you! Affectionately, Justina Wilson GREENEHOLD CROTON HEIGHTS-ON-PUTNAM Dear Mrs. Catt: The minutes of the annual meeting on the 8th week to you, special delivery, from Peekskill yesterday morning, Saturday. I regret that I could not possibly get them to you sooner. I am mailing the minute book tomorrow. I have been carrying an almost superhuman load since October and am only just beginning to see daylight. My friends, not understanding that some of us in these times have terrific burdens to shoulder, cannot comprehend the situation and I have neither time nor the desire to enlighten them. You can well imagine that under the circumstances I was in no fit mood to go to the meeting on the 8th. I should have stayed at home and avoided the sharp spanking I got which I probably deserved but which was a "flicking on the raw and terribly painful. I shall now be freer and shall go into my garden and live with my flowers and be glad for the resurrection of spring life. I have not had half enough time to count or enjoy my numerous blessings! All power to you! Always devotedly, Justina Wilson Croton Heights - Yorktown Heights - New York April 19, 1942 April 24, 1942 My dear Justina Wilson: Whoever in this world had the audacity to give you a spanking and a sharp one at that, you say. Was I the one? If I ever did anything like that, I will come up any day you like and you shall return the spanking or you may deliver it here. I certainly never felt like spanking you and I do not know of anyone else who does. I was greatly surprised and do not know what it was all about. It was my intention to write you and say that you should write the minutes in the book and sign them and I would drive up some day and get the book, but I have had my troubles too. My couple left me and it was two weeks before I got another. It takes quite a time to get acquainted with a new pair, so I did not have energy to get that letter written before your minutes arrived. I am sorry. The book has not yet come and it does not matter, but, at any rate, I shall bring up the book sometime during the summer and you shall sign the last minutes. I am inclined to think that that spanking which you thought you got was imaginary and that you have been so worried and overcome with your many duties, which I can partly understand, that you over over-sensitive. I apologize for whoever you think administered the spanking and if I was the guilty one, on my bended knees I pray your forgiveness. Lovingly, [?] Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, Croton Heights, Yorktown Heights, N. Y. CCC:HW. 1947 Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York My dear Mrs. Park: Here is a copy of the minutes of out last Board meeting with our beloved Mrs. Catt. I thought that the members would like to have the record, especially as Mrs. Catt seemed so well and put through her rather exacting agenda in her usual clear-cut manner. She did miss Alda though who was home in bed with a cold and a nurse. Alda has been such a strong aid during their years together and so understanding to the last detail! After our meeting Mrs. Catt relaxed comfortably at luncheon and was her keen witty self in reminiscences of people and happenings along the way to 1920. She was a splendid story teller! - always! We knew of course that she was going to resign the presidency at this meeting. It was her wish and was readily granted, though our hearts were heavy. Yet we believed that we should have her with us for a long time to come, and wanted to take every weight off her shoulders. She looked so beautiful at rest Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York and so peaceful - just as though she had fallen asleep. The world is not producing women like Mrs. Catt now. There never was one and we shall have to go a long way forward into a spiritualized future to find another. It is the greatest blessing of a life time to have known and loved her. All power to you! Affectionately, Justina Wilson March 17th 1947 (over) PS. Please do give my love to Mrs. Stantial. She is outstanding in my memory. J.L.W TEL. JEROME 7-4700 Concourse Plaza Hotel GRAND CONCOURSE AT 161ST STREET NEW YORK 56, N.Y. August 20th 1947 Dear Mrs. Stantial: I have been having a much needed vacation, mostly at Croton Heights. I find it convenient to move back and forth to the City, as we keep our little apartment at the Concourse Plaza. I hope that I am not too late to join the sponsors for Alice Stone Blackwell's memorial. If I may be accepted and they send you fifty dollars when my yearly interest comes due in December and January. I shall be glad to be included. I am sending a niece to college, beginning this fall, and I have to watch my step and plan well ahead. I sent Mrs. Catt's Victory Congress card index to you by express. I hope that it arrived. I asked Alda Copy June 10, 1952 Dear Justina Wilson: I've gone over the list of so-called projects which various people have suggested as the important ones to be undertaken by the newly organized Suffrage Archives Committee. Mrs. Park is the chairman and she is going to be modest about putting her book "Front Door Lobby" on the list, or at least at the top of the list. But I remember too, that when we discussed the matter at the University Club in 1951, Caroline thought it ought to be No. 1. "C.C.C." always felt that it should be done. She and I read the manuscript together and were convinced of its importance. So let us suggest that it be put at the top right now. You and I want to see it published while Maud's friends are here to enjoy it. I tell you, it's choice! There may be one or two red faces in Washington, but I doubt it! I wrote the appeal and the enclosure, and I'm sorry we neglected to list the jobs to be done. Let's send out a letter broadcast asking for letters and printed matter, minutes and reports of committees and organizations; let's get everything together in one big cellar and sort it out and have a complete story. I'm glad you're going to send your own papers to Edna. Her collection of C.C.C.'s letters to Alice Blackwell are priceless. Why don't we have a slip printed to go into all of our correspondence? My love to you, until next time, Affectionately, (signed) "MGP" MRS. HALSEY W. WILSON (Justina) Was Recording Secretary of the Natl. Am.Woman Suffrage Association see files of National Association Woman's Centennial Congress Mary Gray Peck (work on biography of Mrs. Catt) Carrie Chapman Catt *1 - 7X [?] ack - 7/28 dep - Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York Dear Mrs. Park: I am sending you my first check on a seventy-five dollar pledge to the Suffrage Archives later sums to be sent when needed. I know finishing the job would please our beloved Mrs. Catt and I am personally grateful to you and Edna Stantial. Love to you both Justina Wilson Croton Heights Inn Yorktown Heights New York June 1, 1943 Dear Mrs. Stantial: I just received your urgent letter written May 20th! I am deeply sorry. It must have been put in the wrong place by the Company. Mr. Wilson does not know the cause of the delay. Sorrier still am I that I cannot help you. I did not own a Victory photograph of Mrs. Catt. The cut or glossie which we used came, I believe, through Mary Gray Peck or Esther Ogden Where the Congress was over I questioned up all the pictures, some of them very valuable, and kept them in my file case until we moved from our City apartment to our country home in Westchester this being done in the interest of war economy. The date of this change was October first, 1941, a year after the Congress. At that time I sent the pictures to Mrs. Catt, she having told me that some of them were very valuable. My custodianship ended at that time. If Mrs. Catt does not Croton Heights Inn Yorktown Heights, New York recall receiving them, it is barely possible that Alda Wilson might. Perhaps Ester Ogden, Peters have (is there an s in that word?) Massachusetts will probably be able to tell you who in N.Y.C. took the original picture and so help you to secure a copy. Easter had charge of the publicity, as I remember, where Mrs. Catt made her triumphal entry into New York, after the Tennessee ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. I also have an idea that entry Mary Gray Peck, 30 Eastchester Road, New Rochelle, may have the picture for Mrs. Catt's biography. This is the best I can do for you. I wish it were more. All power to you! Sincerely yours Justina L. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights New York Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York July 11, 1947 Dear Mrs. Stantial: On this day towards the middle of July I have received your letter of June 5th! Let me explain. If is the habit of Mr. Wilson's secretary to put all mail addressed to me at the office in a pigeon hole, of Mr. Wilson's desk. Your letter came while my husband was in Washington. When he returned he was tied close, to our hotel rooms in the City with all infected toe. When he came through that ordeal he rushed off to California for the National Library Associative meeting, then went to Los Angeles for business conference, arriving home, two days ago. I received your letter today. I am sorry. He will see if he has the last Who's Who which you want. If so he will send it to you if you still want it. I have a copy of "Principal Women of America." I will send that to you if the other one is not forthcoming. Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights New York Let me hear from you and I promise, prompt action. I am busy now going over around three hundred personal letters from Mrs. Catt, the last written a few days before she passed. They are alive with the past of truth of the glorious woman; with inspiration; and with humorous bits that I would not part with for worlds! How her likes, her love, her abilities, her courage and the rightness of her blessed us all! Let me, hear from you; I have some sheets of names which you many want- names and addresses which you sent me. Please remember me to Mrs Park. Sincerely Justina Wilson Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York January 14 1949 Dear Edna Stantial: Greetings to you! We glory in your efficiency in getting things done! At the meeting yesterday I was not quite satisfied over the report in your Woman's Journal microfilming and the part Harvard is taking in it. Will you please send me at the earliest moment a paragraph on the status of your progress - very brief? (I refer to the meeting of the Board of the N.A.W.S.A.) We were so sorry that Mrs. Park could not be there. Love to you both, Justina Wilson Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York March 13th 1948 Dear Mrs. Stantial: At long last I have found a favorable moment to turn over your letter of January 23rd to my husband. He will give it his careful attention and you will hear from him. The S. W. V. is securing names of important suffragists, still living, to circularize for donations to the C. C. C. Memorial Fund. The files which I sent you would be invaluable to them if you could spare here for a while. Perhaps you have already written Mrs. Heming who heads the Memorial Fund drive for the L.W.V. I have suggested that she write you. If and when you have completed your files and wish to return the cards, finally, I presume, that they should come back to me. In the meantime the L. W. V. might use them. I am still somewhat dazed about this terrible winter. We have never known a winter with over seventy inches of snow. N.Y.C. has fared better than our Westchester; but even so, their total inches mount to more than sixty. Love yo you and Mrs. Park Sincerely, Justina Wilson [*25 - [?]*] WJ Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York January 19th 1948 Dear Mrs. Stantial: And now I keep my promise! It was so good to see and hear Mrs. Park! I was sorry to hurry away from Mrs. [St????] as I had to do to make my train. Ordinarily it would not have mattered when I might leave; but we are and have been so buried in snow in the country that it seemed wise to take an early train. If you still have a copy of the first letter you sent to me all about the Journal [F???d] I should like to have it. Would that be possible, and soon?, All power to you! Sincerely. Justina Wilson P.S. That was a good job you did for the Unitarians. It will be as you say, a valuable help to a discriminating mail order depart. J.L.W. Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York April 29 1950 Dear Edna: I have received this Alice Stone Blackwell material and shall look it over care fully this week-end. Of course it shall contribute to the A. B. S. Memorial. I am marking my summer budget the finrst of June and shall include it in my plans. If you will take a look at my last letter I think you will find that our date is June the sixth for your arrival. If another time later is better for you please let me know. It is better for me that you come on a Saturday as my husband is always at home week-ends. We can meet you in the City and bring you out to Westchester. Please know that if I have selected an inconvenient time for you it may be changed. I am so sorry that Mrs. Park is not feeling up the mark. Please give her my love and good wishes. When we have real sunshine once more perhaps she will be herself. The spring has let winter stay too long and I hope May will be resolute and order off the dampness and cold. Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York It is a deep satisfaction to know that the N. A. W. S. A. is entirely closed out, with all, that is precious and permanent since 1890 made available through many channels for future study. What fine leadership and resolute soldiers immortalize our great crusade! I believe Mrs. Catt was the greatest leader of any movement for freedom that the world has ever known! Do let me hear from you when the time of coming is settled. Lovingly, Justina Wilson Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenhold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York January 17, 1951 Dear Edna: With my usual superior vison of my routine affairs withdrawn for some time my smoothly running course of every day going has been interrupted. The accompanying letter and card go to you to prove that I did not forget. I am coming on finely now and hope to resume everything from now on. I shall be so pleased to cooperate with you in the testimonial book to be prepared for Mrs. Park. I will send you my copy this week. It is a beautiful idea and will be heartwarming to a great and vital leader. Lovingly Justina Wilson Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson Greenehold at Croton Heights Yorktown Heights, New York Dear Edna: It was good to hear from you and to catch the bur-r-r of the wheels as you start on a new chapter of your valuable work. I am sending you twenty-five dollars and led me know when you need more. I shall be interested in your problem and progress. I came across a letter I wrote to Mrs. Slade not long before her passing, of any tribute should be recorded in any section of your writing; any appreciation of Caroline Slade's devotion to carrying on following Mrs. Catt's passing and finishing up her work so orderly and understandly, it might be a warming touch to and the zeal and success of Mrs. Slade's devotion as it lives in the hearts of her fellow Board members. If you can come to New York at anytime to further your work or just to relax, the latch string is always out. We should be so happy to have you. We might also do a little more winnowing among my held-out treasures! Lovingly, including warm greetings from Halsey. Justina Wilson P.S. Love to dear Mrs. Park. Greetings to your husband. Friday, June 2nd Dear Edna: I have decided to meet you at the Grand Central. It will save you certain complications. If you can arrange to arrive before noon we can have luncheon at the Women's University Club in the Biltmore reached by elevator from the Grand Central. I shall feel happier to see that you are comfortable from the moment you arrive rather than let you find your way around alone. I know you are pretty smart but the crowds pouring out of the entrances at G. C. are confusing and clutter up exits to breathing space. So please name your hour of arrival and I will take care of the rest. I am not sure yet about the Saturday luncheon. You and I may have to go into the City from Croton Heights Saturday morning and have Mrs. Slade, Mary Peck, Alda Wilson and Mabel Russell come to the Club for luncheon. Mary Peck who is resting just now suggested this plan as the simpler way. We shall see. Croton Heights is very beautiful now and Mrs. Slade is ready to drive them all out. At any rate just put yourself in my hands and I shall see that whatever comes will be good. Awaiting word from you, I am Affectionately Justina Wilson P.S. Wouldn't you know I should have to have one? The schedule I am sending you is for Day light Saving. I do not know about Boston but we are on it. Just subtract an hour from our daylight time and you will have train time. So glad you are coming! J-. [*HWWilson*] This is the last folder I got out before the Inn was sold to a Russian prince and princess who are making an interesting thing out of it. The real estate end of the promotion is our concern - it being my husband's avocation and my job. I thought you might be interested in seeing what you are coming to - no big, bad wolf. J- [* Written in December*] GREENEHOLD AT CROTON HEIGHTS YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NEW YORK Dear Edna: All the dear letters and the books and the Christmas greeting with the glorious words from Paul have been so deeply important to me. Yet I have kept on failing you by not writing. I don't like to talk of frailties but a terrific cold, caught in Vermont in the Early handles the brochure and have or are sending them out to those who may not have been the [club?] of last year. Hence the accompanying card to Mrs. Park and you . Late? Yes the "Seven Rights of Man" arrived on Wednesday of last week and I have been rushing them at a tremendous rate. So good a friend need have this explanation. The Wilsons have been pretty well and active. Halsey has been in the Hospital twice since you were here and the topping expense - a left-over from our earlier operation put him in fine shape only to be followed by an automobile accident two weeks which was not too dreadful but rather upsetting. He is at his office today and expects to have our car back tomorrow. Love and many thanks for all your kindness. Justina Wilson days of October has bound me through the Thanksgiving month and until now in December. I am so sorry. I sent a card to Mrs. Park and have a similar one for you. They were the last year's cards to all except our brochure recipients which went to you and the Board members. I have at long last located the painting from that NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION June 9, 1919. My dear Mrs. Park,- I have purposely delayed my congratulations until the shower of letters and telegrams might have subsided a little. To me your long, patient, successful campaign with the men a the Capitol is the permanent and fundamental victory that only a woman of your type could make it. I glory in it because it is a demonstration of the possibility of combining with political astuteness the dignity and spirituality [about?] which your achievement would have degenerated into a mere matter of mechanics. I have idealized our movement from the moment I became connected with it. When I first began to work for suffrage I contended that every woman identified with it should be one hundred percent true woman. While, during the past six years, I have had to modify my idea and have grown more tolerant - even to the point of accepting the best that a fifty percent, or less, true woman woman had to offer - I have none the less kept on demanding that the leaders high in authority should measure up well to the qualifications of the all around woman. Why I rejoice so much in you is that you know combined idealism with the human basis side to a degree that has won the admiration of the more spiritually minded while the practical, politically minded Mrs read success in times of results, why, are ardent in your praise. The greatest good fortune that can come to any one is the successful completion of a difficult and responsible undertaking. This success is now yours and the members of your family are proud of you. Loyally yours, Justina L. Wilson Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.