February 2017 Auction Ends Thursday, February 23rd, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/23/2017
Interesting Clara Barton typed letter signed, from her home in Glen Echo, Maryland on 17 February 1910 to General Roscoe G. Wells, her assistant and commander of the ambulance corps for the National First Aid Society. Remarkably at the age of 88, Barton had recently formed the Society to complement and rival the American Red Cross, which she founded and was forced out several years earlier by an all male board. She was criticized for mixing personal and Red Cross funds, to which she alludes to in this letter, ''...I never had any office but my house for the Red Cross in all the twenty years, and forty-five years ago, when I searched for the Missing Men of the entire United States Army, a work as much larger than the Red Cross, as that is larger than this, with fifteen paid clerks, I had only my own rooms, not even a house and no other office. It was my own money and I looked on and watched the last dollar go, thousand after thousand, before help came to me...'' She continues, ''...When you left me at Oxford the morning after that happy visit, you were to finish up the really fine lecture, and get the membership plan in action. All seemed so hopeful, that I had difficulty in getting you to accept the trifle I wanted you to take. Then followed my own neglected and accumulated matters five hundred miles away,- with several hundred dollars accruing cemetery bills still to be met in Oxford. Yet I wanted to help, and it seemed to me that what I wanted to say in the leaflet of Greetings would, at least not harm; it would call attention, strengthen confidence, and open the way to membership. The letters running into the hundreds in response more than confirm the correctness of this impression. They are a volume in themselves, full of love, confidence and hope for the 'Great and successful work.' Three-fourths of these people would be ready to take part. - Only now and then one sees the gulf at our feet and the axe over our heads. When I received your first letter a few weeks ago, proposing to take up business, I saw the situation, and felt that perhaps it was the happiest thing you could do. I waited making no reply; not meaning to slip out leaving it for others to do, for that is not my nature, but to cast about as quickly as possible to find how I could arrange to let you draw on me. I saw the plans were not carrying out, and cherished hopes were failing you...'' Barton continues with a plan to partially fund the Society's activities and act as creditor on its loans. Four page letter on separate sheets measures 8'' x 10.5''. Signed ''Clara Barton / Priv.'' at the conclusion. Folds and light creasing, otherwise near fine.
Clara Barton Letter Signed on Running the National First Aid Society at the Age of 88 -- She Writes of Supporters ''full of love, confidence and hope'' & Also ''the axe over our heads''
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