Letter: Joseph S. Cotter to Paul Laurence Dunbar, Page 1 of 2

Creator

Joseph S. Cotter
Ohio History Connection

Preview

Identifier

MSS114_B01F03_017

Creation Date

11-6-1894

Keywords

Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ohio history, Poetry, dialect poetry, biography, black history, black poets, primary sources, prominent Ohioans, Joseph S. Cotter

Description

Louisville, Ky., Nov. 6, 1894

Mr. Paul L. Dunbar:

My Dear Sir:

I was glad to receive your letter, but sorry to hear your disappointment, for I know what it means to a person of your make-up. I hope that the law of compensation will turn the balance in your favor. I would have answered your letter immediately, but I was looking to see what I could do for you. As yet I don’t see where you would get any work. I have partly arranged with the Y.M.C.A. to have you read during Thanksgiving week. The plan is this:

The Y.M.C.A. can not run any risk. We think we can get several of the churches to donate a night each for the reading. If so, the money will be divided between you and the Y.M.C.A. Now, this may be a very good thing and then it may be something else, as you see. Then something may be done in Jeffersonville & New Albany. When the plan is settled upon, I will write you, stating the terms as to the division of money. Thanks for your words about the “droll goal.”

I will do all I can to work it up. I hereby introduce you to “Alfred Tennyson.”

Yours for peace, health & prosperity —

Joseph S. Cotter

#2306 — Magazine St.

Repository note: "Alfred Tennyson" is a newspaper clipping of a poem Cotter wrote; he enclosed it with the letter. The clipping is part of this image archive.

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Primary Item Type

Business Correspondence

Rights

This item is part of the Paul Laurence Dunbar House collection at Ohio History Connection, Columbus, Ohio. The collection contains items from 219 N. Summit St., Dayton, Ohio (later 219 N. Paul Laurence Dunbar St.), the home Dunbar purchased for his mother, Matilda J. Dunbar, in 1904. Paul Laurence Dunbar lived there until his death in 1906; Matilda lived there until her death in 1934. It is now the Paul Laurence Dunbar House Historic Site, part of the National Park Service.