JULIA WARD HOWE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 04/10/1905 - HFSID 86035

JULIA WARD HOWE
Howe handwrote, signed and dated this letter to N.C. Adassides at The Tarthman Weekly Church Paper, Boston, Massachusetts in 1905. In it, she apologizes for leaving during a lecture given by Adassides - "my fatigue was so great that I was obliged to leave after hearing Mr Anagnos" - and talks about printing details for one of her addresses.
Autograph letter signed "Julia Ward Howe.". 3 pages, 4¼x5¾ (folded), 1 sheet folded, front and verso. Written at "241Beacon St.", April 10, 1905. Addressed to N. C. Adassides. In full: "Dear Mr Adassides, I was very sorry not to stay to hear you last evening, but my fatigue was so great that I was obliged to leave after hearing Mr Anagnos. I have made more small corrections in the notes of my address. Will you please ask the printers to save the writing, and will you kindly return it to me? I wish I could see a proof of it, but as I leave for New York on Thursday 13th, by 10 o'clock a.m. train, I fear that this may not be possible. I enjoyed the meeting as much as my tired condition would allow. I expect to remain away from home about a fortnight, after which time I shall hope to find you still in Boston. Believe me Cordially yours,". Lightly toned, creased and rippled. Light show-through from ink, which touches handwriting and signature on opposite side of paper. Handwriting, but not signature, is lightly smeared in places but legible. Adhesive residue on page 1, which touches handwriting. Random ink stains. Adhesive residue and paper loss inside letter with show through. Otherwise in fine condition. Folded once and unfolded. Letter is lightly torn on fold and spine. Pinhole where fold and spine meet. Otherwise in fine condition. Accompanied by: Original mailing envelope with address handwritten in Howe's hand. Postmarked Boston, Massachusetts, April 11, 1905. Addressed to Mr. N.C. Adassides at The Tarthman Weekly Church Paper, Boston, Massachusetts. With one 2¢ red-and-white Washington stamp affixed. Lightly toned, soiled and creased. Flap has been neatly torn open with paper loss under flap. Lightly torn at top edge. Ink stains on verso. Adhesive residue on verso (no show-through). Otherwise in fine condion. Howe (1819-1910, born in New York City), a social reformer and poet, is best known for writing the poem The Battle Hymn of the Republic, which she was inspired to write after visiting army camps in Washington, D.C. during the Civil War. Howe's poem, first published in the February 1862 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, was later set to music to the tune of the popular antislavery song John Brown's Body and became the unofficial song of the Union Army. Howe later turned her fervor against slavery into a crusade for women's rights. She was a co-founder (1868) and first President of the New England Woman's Suffrage Association, co-led (with Lucy Stone) the American Woman Suffrage Association (1869) and founded the Women's International Peace Association (1871). In 1870, Howe assisted Stone and her husband, Henry Blackwell, to establish the Woman's Journal, and served as an editor and writer for the publication for 20 years. Howe, who also wrote poems for other women's journals and founded the Boston Authors Club, was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1908).