Item 72: Letter from E[dmund]. C[larence]. Stedman to “My dear Marques,”, 1881 August 10
Item — Box: 11, Folder: 72
Dates
- Created: 1881 August 10
Creator
- Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 1833-1908 (Person)
Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities
Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Letter
Condition Note:
Excellent.
Measurements:
8 ½ in. x 5 ½ in.
Description:
This is a letter from Edmund Stedman to Marques on August 10, 1891. During this letter Stedman seems to be updating Marques about his current situation while screaming about a telegram that was never sent or received. In this letter, Stedman responds to a letter he received from the recipient. He uses many sarcastic notes here to mention that the recipient proclaims to never have received a telegram that he was supposed to have, to which Stedman tells him to stop lying, calling the recipient full of “blarney” with a “lathering tongue.” Stedman also mentions a number of interesting historical moments that are occuring during the period of the letter.
In the letter, Stedman mentions being shocked by the world pictures of the lady bathers at Narragansett Pier. There are a number of photographs depicting women in modern swimming suits at the beach. These were a contentious series, plausibly causing the shock Stedman mentions, because the former method of frequenting the beach were bathing machines. They would be small wooden structures on wheels in which people, mostly women, could change into their clothes discreetly. During this early period of the nineteenth century, women’s swimming clothes were created with the intention of hiding the body, but as we progress into the middle of the century, we see these styles moving just below the knees and over the elbows. Mahwah’s Digital Archive has an in depth history of women’s swimming clothes and the evolution they take during the nineteenth century. There were also publications of prints depicting women in bathing suits at Narragansett Pier during the same time as the letter. These can be seen on The Met’s website.
Stedman also denotes the temperature displayed on his thermostat, 90 degrees and rising. The inclusion is plausibly connected with the invention of them during this period. For, the interior thermostat was patented in 1886. It would have been wealthier individuals who could afford to have the thermostat so early into its creation, indicating the financial status of the author. However, there is another indicator and historical referent in Stedman’s letter.
Stedman mentions that he will make a trip to New Castle the first Sunday that Jay Gould gives him off. Jay Gould was a financial speculator and railroad magnate of the Gilded Age, a strong economic era for the United States due to rapid industrialization. The country saw the creation of the transcontinental railroad, a boom in steel and coal, and an easier avenue in settling United States interests in the west, which opened up the abilities and reach of many enterprises, such as ranching, merchanting and trade, and stimulated the economy by numerous channels. Gould founded the Gould business dynasty, whereby with unscrupulous and cunning business practices, he became one of the wealthiest figures in the country.
Stedman’s letter also asks if the recipient has seen Stoddard’s review of a book. This may be Elizabeth Drew Stoddard, a female American poet and novelist of the time. Her work is often seen as a feminist critique of the previous debate over the Woman Question, where ideologies of the “Angel in the House,” were torn apart by Stoddard’s fight against social and religious norms in novels like The Morgesons.
The creator of this letter, Edmund Stedman, was born in Connecticut in 1833. Stedman studied at Yale University where he received his Master of Arts degree. He would go on to become a journalist, essayist, poet, scientist, banker, and critic. At the time of this letter, Stedman was living in New York.
Location:
Broadway, New York; Peace Dale; Narragansett
Transcription:
Office of E.C. Stedman,
Broker,
No. 66 Broadway,
New York, August 10th 18891.
Therm[omstat] 90° & Rising
My dear Marques
Your hospitable & laudatory letter I found in my office. But this Monday am–a late arrival which shows the a good deal of circumvention still retard [context: slow] the Berwick mail. I suppose you still are waiting for the telegram “that never came”, and for the guest who never sent it.
In the first place, none of your blarney! Your letter is a full of it as a knowing bee is of honey. Be off wid ye! Tis a lathering tongue ye have.
Secondly= I couldn’t have gone, anyhow.
Thirdly= I have been shocked by the world pictures of the lady-bathers at Narragansett Pier.
Fourth= The very first Sunday that Jay Gould allows me to enjoy, I shall make a fret[foot] for new castle, you may depend on it, & see my virtuous Laura. She is holding the fort like a man, but her epistolary wails are divine.
If those aristocratic and altogether divine cousins of yours are at Peace Dale [Rhode Island], pray give them my courteous remembrances. Did you see Stoddard’s; review of the “[Angel/Anger]” book? I met some people the other day who told me they had leased a Berwick cottage at the pier. I couldn't think who they were, and did not know there was another B. there and now my father can to Mr. C. G. J., and you neednt answer this letter. Affectionately
E. C.
Creator
- Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 1833-1908 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu