J. C. (JAMES CASH) PENNEY - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 05/01/1969 - HFSID 276601

J.C. PENNEY
The department store magnate declines a commitment to the Wisdom Society.
Typed Letter signed: "J.C. Penney", 1 p, 8½x11. On personal letterhead. New York, N.Y., 1969 May 1. To Leon Gutterman, President and Publisher, The Wisdom Society, Beverly Hills, California. In full: "I have had an opportunity since my return from an extended trip in the West to review your letter to me of March 6, and your recent letter of April 25. I apapreciate your invitation to me to become a Founder of The Wisdom Encyclopedia. I recall my acceptance of the Wisdom Award of Honor, which you gave me several years ago. I want you to know that I am impressed with the monumental task you are undertaking in assembling in the Wisdom Encyclopedias the great thoughts of the world's greatest minds. Even though I believe your program is a worthy one, I feel that I cannot accept the invitation to become a Founder of your organization. I am in my ninety-fourth year and am attempting to relieve myself of further responsibilities and obligations rather than adding to them a t this time. I trust you will understand. With very best wishes for the success of your undertaking, I am, Sincerely." Penney (1875-1971), who opened his first store in 1902 in Wyoming, had a chain of 34 stores generating sales of $2 million by 1912. The following year, his Golden Rule stores were incorporated as J.C. Penney, Inc., which moved its operations to New York City to be closer to major suppliers in 1914. Penney, who semi-retired in 1946, assumed the title of Honorary Chairman. Today, there are approximately 1,100 J.C. Penney stores employing more than 290,000 associates in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Mexico. The Wisdom Society, founded in the late 1950s, is a nonprofit organization which seeks to promote practical wisdom, as opposed to metaphysical inquiry. In 1970, the US Postal Service issued an administrative decision against the Wisdom Society, finding that the Society was promoting Founder status to Wisdom Award of Honor recipients in exchange for $100 contributions for a Wisdom Encyclopedia, which never made its way to publication. Whatever the merits of these allegations, in this letter J. C. Penney diplomatically declined the offer. Fine condition.