JULIA WARD HOWE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 11/04/1898 - HFSID 155777

JULIA WARD HOWE
Howe handwrote, signed and dated this letter from Boston to a Mrs. Namor in 1898. In it, she writes about a lecture in New Jersey and thanked Namor for how she was received in Wilmington.
Autograph letter signed "Julia Ward Howe". With pencil notations inside letter in unknown hand.3 pages, 6¾x9, 1 sheet folded, front and verso. Boston, Massachusetts, Nov. 4, 1898. Addressed to "Mrs Namor". In full: "My dear Mrs Namor, I have waited to write you until I should be really at home, in my own house. I arrived here on the afternoon of Saturday last, having [illegible] time made a visit to my daughter, Mrs Hall, in Plainfield. My lecture there was very well attend-ed. On Thursday, Oct. 24th, I went with Mrs Hall to attend the annual meet-ing of the N. J. [illegible] Fed eration [sic] at Elizabeth. Wen We enjoyed this oc-casion very much, and Mrs Hall stayed over to the 2nd day's meet-ing. I was too much fatigued to remain over, and we went to my [illegible]'s house in N. Y. to stay over Friday night, hearing Mr Preston on Saturday morning. My days here have been crowded with business, and I really have not had time until today to write you, according to my [illegible]. So, let me now say how much I enjoyed my visit in Wilmington, and how pleasant I found it to see all you good friends again. I shall write by this mail to Mrs Fields, who [illegible] me most kindly and [illegible] at home. I must thank you most of all, since you it was who arranged this visit and the lecture for me. They greet for me the ladies of your Club, especially those whom I met at your house, and believe me dear Mrs Namor, cordially and gratefully your's,". 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). Lightly toned. Signature is spotted in places but legible. Handwriting is smeared in places but legible. Random ink stains. Folded once and unfolded. Spine of letter and fold are worn and torn. Paper has separated along fold at spine. Otherwise in fine condition.