DANIEL C. BEARD - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 05/26/1937 - HFSID 42394

DANIEL C. BEARD. TLS: "Daniel C. Beard", 1p, 5½x8½. Suffern, New York, 1937 May 26. On letterhead of Dan Beard Camp, Incorporated to Mr. Robert Sutherland, Suffern, New York. In full: "Thank you for your letter of May 24. If this $124 covers the whole cost of repairing the balustrade on the roof of the portecochere (sic), it is satisfactory to me, because, from what I have heard of you, the work will be competently and satisfactorily done. I wish you would find out about the columns and let me know when you can begin work as soon as possible, because I will be away the greater part of the summer and I would like to get the thing started. Very truly yours." In late May 1942, just five years after Beard wrote this letter, the city, Hawley, located in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, was devastated by a flood. Daniel C. Beard (1850-1941) was a successful illustrator for many national magazines and illustrated the first edition of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Beard, who also wrote and illustrated a number of books (including his best-known, The American Boys' Handy Book, 1882) and articles on woodcraft and nature study, was involved in boys' organizations. He founded the Sons of Daniel Boone and co-founded the American Boy Scout movement in 1910 (started in England by Lord Baden-Powell, who was also an illustrator). Beard, who "Americanized" the Boy Scout emblem by adding an American eagle and shield, served as National Scout Commissioner and the Court of Honor until the end of his life. Mt. Beard, next to Mt. McKinley in Alaska, is named in his honor. Lightly smudged, touching printed text, else fine condition.