SARA AGNES RICE PRYOR - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 75909

SARA AGNES PRYOR
Sara Agnes Pryor, co-founder of the Daughters of the American Revolution, wrote this letter in 1896 to Edward W. Bok, editor of The Ladies' Home Journal, to pitch a new column entitled The House - and how to keep it.
Autograph letter signed "Sara A. Pryor". 4 pages, 4½x7, 1 sheet folded, front and verso. Jan. 20. 1896. In full: "My dear Mr Bok: To keep myself in touch with American women so that I can be useful to them, I read the long columns in the papers and weekly journals which profess to answer their questions. The class of writing I have been doing for a year has brought me, from all over the country, letters from intelligent women. To meet a an evident need I am preparing a series of papers which I entitle 'The House - and how to keep it.' I am thoroughly instructed in 'furnishing' - in antique, Chippendale & Sheraton furniture - in the new 'crazes' and their value and in the art of distinguishing between the genuine and its imitations. I can give a literary flavor to the subject and thus make it worthy a magazine article. I know that whereof I speak. Do you wish for these papers - in which I shall put my best work - for your journal? Very sincerely yours,". "Mr Bok" is probably EDWARD W. BOK (1863-1930), editor of The Ladies' Home Journal from 1889 to 1919. SARA AGNES PRYOR (1830-1912), born Sara Agnes Rice, married secessionist Democrat Roger Atkinson Pryor, Viriginia's U. S. Congressman from 1859 to 1861 and briefly Confederate Representative from 1862, in 1848. She lived with her children in near poverty in occupied Petersburg, Virginia for two years while her husband tried to establish himself as a lawyer in New York, joining him there in 1867. Roger found success in Democratic circles in New York, but Sara knew he would be viewed with suspicion in both the North and South due to his past views, so she associated herself with a number of patriotic and philanthropic societies to deflect criticism. Her greatest accomplishment was co-founding the National Society of the Daughters of the Revolution in 1890. Sara became an author late in life, writing occasional magazine articles and the books The Mother of Washington and Her Times (1903), Reminiscences of Peace and War (1904), The Birth of a Nation (1907) and My Day: Reminiscences of a Long Life (1909). Lightly toned and creased. Show-though touches handwriting and signature. Folded once and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition.