Susan B. Anthony letter to Mariana Wright Chapman
Item Description
Susan B. Anthony was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. She requests that her secretary, Emma B. Sweet, be made a regular or alternate New York delegate to the Convention at Des Moines to help New York appear as strong as possible. Wishes that they had the power to prevent Joseph Choate from going to the US Senate; "I would rather have a henchman of Tammany than that lordly, aristocratic, wire-pulling, Constitutional-Convention President."
Please cite appropriately, crediting Mariana Wright Chapman Family Papers, SFHL-RG5-260, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College as the source and indicating the identifier of the item, A00180016.This work is believed to be in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States. For more information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/.
Transcription
NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
1341 Arch St.,
PHILADELPHIA,
PA.
Honorary President,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 26 West 61st Street, New York.
President, Susan B. Anthony,
17 Madison Street, Rochester, New York.
Vice-President-at-Large, Rev. Anna H. Shaw,
1341 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Corresponding Secretary, Rachel Foster Avery
1341 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Recording Secretary, Alice Stone Blackwell,
3 Park Street, Boston, Mass.
Treasurer, Harriet Taylor Upton,
Warren, Ohio.
Auditors
Laura Clay, Lexington, Ky.
Sarah B. Cooper, San Francisco, Cal.
Chairman Committee on Organization, Carrie Chapman Catt, 106 World Building, New York.
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
December 27,1896
Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman,
160 Hicks St., Brooklyn.
My dear Friend:
It is now decided that Mrs. Emma B. Sweet, who is my
secretary, as you know, will go to our convention at Des Moines. Will
you not make her, if not a regular delegate, then an alternate, so
that she will have a right to vote as well as to speak to help New
York appear as strong as possible in that far-off snowy city? I
expect it will be very difficult to fill the N. Y. delegation at all
respectably as to numbers, so that you will have to scratch round and
confer upon every woman who does go the dignity of delegateship. You
will of course go and do all you can to stir up Brooklyn and New York
women to do likewise.
I had a note from Isabel the other day inclosing one from you to
me, saying that an order on the State Treasurer was inclosed. Isabel
said that she had taken the liberty of sending the order direct to the
Treasurer, from whom I have not yet heard, so do not know what the
order was and therefore cannot thank you for it now.
I hope you have had a pleasant Christmas, and that you begin to
get settled into the work of the presidency of the Empire State, to
do anything with which is always a big job.
I just wish we had the
power to say and do something to prevent Joe Choate from going to the
Senate, but I suppose there is very little chance for him anyway. I
would rather have a henchman of Tammany than that lordly, aristocratic,
wire-pulling, Constitutional-Convention President.
With love to each and all of your family and lots for yourself,
Very sincerely,
[signature] Susan B. Anthony
(Dictated)