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Lot 122
DOUGLASS, FREDERICK. 1818-1895. Autograph Letter Signed ("Frederick Douglass"), to Clara Barton,
11 December 2020, 10:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$15,300 inc. premium
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DOUGLASS, FREDERICK. 1818-1895.
Autograph Letter Signed ("Frederick Douglass"), to Clara Barton, 1 p (with integral blank), 8vo, Rochester, NY, April 10, 1869, with original autograph transmittal envelope addressed simply to "Miss Clara Barton / Washington / D.C.," light creasing, otherwise fine.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO CLARA BARTON: "WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP YOU?" Douglass and Barton were familiar to each other through their shared appearances as the major suffrage conventions of the post-war years as well as from Washington political circles. Douglass writes, in part: "I am just home from a wearing western tour. I need not describe its character for you know it by experience. Thanks for your letter, written with a tired hand and at a late hour, on 26th Jan: I am delighted to learn how Gen. Butler received you, and shall be glad to know that he has been as prompt in action as he has been in words. It was a huge undertaking, your meeting this giant, to convince his plegement and obtain his cooperation and your obtaining that is another proof of your noble courage. / Now, I am just out of the woods--or rather, out of the Bairn. What are you doing? Is your wisely benevolent scheme in progress? What have you done? And what can I do to help you? It may be that I shall come to Washington in the course of a few days. My friends wish me to take charge of a public journal. In case this succeeds, you will find me always ready and willing to second your whole efforts."
It's not clear exactly which "wisely benevolent scheme" Barton was pursuing in seeking an audience with General Butler, who at the time was serving in the U.S. Congress. She would not yet have been lobbying on behalf of the Red Cross, and her own department, The Office of Correspondence with Friends of the Missing Men of the United States Army, was in its final year. It may have been related to the Freedman's Bureau, which Butler supported, or perhaps some other project of the period.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO CLARA BARTON: "WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP YOU?" Douglass and Barton were familiar to each other through their shared appearances as the major suffrage conventions of the post-war years as well as from Washington political circles. Douglass writes, in part: "I am just home from a wearing western tour. I need not describe its character for you know it by experience. Thanks for your letter, written with a tired hand and at a late hour, on 26th Jan: I am delighted to learn how Gen. Butler received you, and shall be glad to know that he has been as prompt in action as he has been in words. It was a huge undertaking, your meeting this giant, to convince his plegement and obtain his cooperation and your obtaining that is another proof of your noble courage. / Now, I am just out of the woods--or rather, out of the Bairn. What are you doing? Is your wisely benevolent scheme in progress? What have you done? And what can I do to help you? It may be that I shall come to Washington in the course of a few days. My friends wish me to take charge of a public journal. In case this succeeds, you will find me always ready and willing to second your whole efforts."
It's not clear exactly which "wisely benevolent scheme" Barton was pursuing in seeking an audience with General Butler, who at the time was serving in the U.S. Congress. She would not yet have been lobbying on behalf of the Red Cross, and her own department, The Office of Correspondence with Friends of the Missing Men of the United States Army, was in its final year. It may have been related to the Freedman's Bureau, which Butler supported, or perhaps some other project of the period.