Title: A Correspondence Consisting of 2 Typed Letters Signed by Grace Kellogg Addressed to James B. Pond, Seeking the Opportunity to Lecture on Women's Suffrage.
Description: Hillside, New Jersey: December 7 and December 14, 1924. 1924. - Two letters signed by the novelist and woman's suffrage activist Grace Kellogg Griffith addressed to the American lecture manager James B. Pond, together with Pond's retained copy of his brief response. In her first letter, dated December 7, 1924 and consisting of over 350 words typed on 2 sheets of her 8-1/2 inch high by 6-1/4 inch wide personal stationery, Grace Kellogg Griffith mentions taking the liberty of showing up at Pond's office. They had met "at the home of Dr. Gibbons a couple of years ago" and she thought that he might grant her a few moments but "Apparently, however, I failed to pass the acid test required by your secretary, who refused to announce me to you". She explains that she's been lecturing and speaking for the past 10 years "and was, during the campaign of 1914, a paid suffrage speaker of considerable reputation in Philadelphia". She further elucidates that she can no longer keep up with the demands for her to lecture "Since the publication of a very successful novel, The Mould, last winter". Many of those who seek her out expect her to speak "gratis" but she is now only taking on paid engagements. Her husband, who is secretary of the Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce, "is much interested in my work, and feels that I have a big future in this line. As he employs many high-priced speakers every year, he ought to be something of a connoisseur" and suggested she seek Pond's services as a lecture manager. Signed in full "Grace Kellogg Griffith". Folded for mailing with a tiny piece out from the top left corner of each page. Pond has stamped the date at the top and briefly annotated the letter in red.
In the retained copy of his December 14th letter, Pond dismissively responds: "I am very interested to learn that your husband employes [sic] many high priced speakers every year. He has never engaged any from us".
Grace Kellogg responds in a second letter, this one with over 90 words dated December 14, 1924 typed on 11 inch high by 7-1/4 inch wide creamy white paper. Speaking of her husband, her closing paragraph reveals how rude she considered Pond's response: "He employs only the very best speakers available: and I think it just possible that perhaps your business methods -- though so refreshingly unique - do not strongly attract the 'best', either in speakers or in patronage". Signed in full "Grace Kellogg Griffith". Folded for mailing, there is a tiny piece out from the top left corner with adjacent staining from a paper clip. There is a small brown stain to the bottom edge of the page.
Born in Bangor, Maine, the author and women's suffrage speaker Grace Kellogg Griffith (1885-1987) sold her first poem which was published when she was only 8 years old and had her first novel serialized in "The National Magazine" when she was only 17. She lived and taught English in Istanbul for 3 years where she met her first husband D. Griffith. Back in the U.S. she resided in New Jersey and New York where, involved with the women's suffrage movement, she worked in Margaret Sanger's office. A journalist, she also published several novels: "Arise and Go", "The Beloved Tenant", and "The House of the Silent Drum", among others. Late in life, she returned to her studies at the University of Vermont, following the death of her third husband, where she published her master's thesis "The Two Lives of Edith Wharton". Grace Kellogg was a member of the "Women Strike For Peace" and of the "Committee for Non-Violent Action". Good .
Keywords: AMERICANA; WOMEN'S MOVEMENT; WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE; GRACE KELLOGG GRIFFITH; TYPED LETTER SIGNED; SIGNED LETTERS; AUTOGRAPH; LECTURE; JAMES POND; AUTHOR; NOVELIST; JOURNALIST; 20TH CENTURY; TWENTIETH CENTURY; SPEAKER; LECTURER.
- Book number: 36973
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