Huge collection of 50 letters from George Washington Carver, consisting of 27 ALSs (in all, 44 pages) front and back, and 10 TLSs. Also present are 13 additional TLSs signed with Carver’s name by a secretary. Almost all with envelopes addressed by Carver, on letterhead of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for the Training of Colored Young Men and Women, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, 1933-1938. Letters are to Floyd Anderson or his mother, Mrs. Olivia Anderson, in Chipley, Georgia. There are two newspaper clippings about Floyd’s family and a March 31, 1939 folded clipping from “The Atlanta Journal” picturing Dr. Carver shaking hands with FDR during the President’s visit to Tuskegee. A small sampling of the ALSs is as follows (all letters may be viewed online by clicking here):
(July 16, 1933) “I am sure you saw what I did as dear ‘Floyd’ went through the laboratory. His very soul reached out for investigation. While I was giving him his massage, I was so interested to have him tell me about his wireless radio set that he had made…”
(July 22, 1933) “The wonderful Tourmaline Crystals you are collecting, will tell you such a marvelous story. They may not be Tourmaline. We will find out when you bring them. I am anxious to see the arrow heads…I am anxious to build up your right leg and make it just as strong as the other…”
(August 11, 1933) “I wish you knew what a Joy it is to have your son come down, he is in every way a dear, sweet, wholesome boy, with a very unusual mind. Just the kind out of which Edisons are made. I wish you could have been with us in the laboratory, and heard him name some of the sweet potato and peanut products…”
(September 2, 1933) “Have just received a fine letter from Mr. Hardwick and have told him how splendidly your leg is developing and how happy I am over what God is doing for you. The face is going to come all right also. 100% body and mind is our slogan and thank God you are going to measure up to it I so thoroughly believe…” Carver had first met James T. Hardwick, a descendant of slave owners, through the Atlanta-based Commission in Interracial Cooperation and the Young Men’s Christian Association. Hardwick, brother of Navy football coach Harry Hardwick, had been captain of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute football team.
(September 11, 1933) “Dear, I have just returned from a little jaunt in the woods. Collecting some of our worst field forest and garden diseases. I have a fine lot of them, one on the pecan which is very destructive, one on corn, okra and tomatoes are equally destructive. I hope to examine all of them microscopically this afternoon…”
(October 22, 1933) “I am very sure you know that I am expecting a young Edison out of my dear, handsome boy Floyd. It is in you and all you have to do is develop it and you are doing it in a very satisfactory manner to me…” This letter bears large tan stains not affecting the legibility of the text.
(August 28, 1934) “A large box of silk cocoons from north Alabama just come in for me to investigate their fitness for silk and possibly paper…Some time dear, I wish you write me a brief story of your case, and how the treatment has benefitted you. Dear, you are my first patient and it would be such a treasure to have it from you…”
(November 10, 1934) “I have so many scientific problems I want you to get thoroughly familiar with. I have just had gas put in my laboratory…”
(November 20, 1934) “How happy I am to get a letter from my dear, handsome boy, my Young ‘Edison’…Dear, I want you to get acquainted with all forms of nature I want you to become familiar with plants, learn their names, their families, and the things we prize them for…”
(March 7, 1935) “I want my Young Edison to be extremely careful, as I want nothing to happen to him that will retard his progress…Glorious, that you are planning to work your way through Ga. Tech. There is nothing that develops a person like self reliance, begin early to take care of your self and it will make a strong, successful business man out of you. That is just what made Edison the man that he was…I am so anxious to see that cured leg…”
Excerpts from TLSs include: (February 6, 1936) “It is rather remarkable how many of my patients have improved. So much so that the enclosed article will interest you very much…Nothing pleases me more than to know that you are now well and that your legs are perfect. The Great Creator can do and will do wonderful things, if we put ourselves in position to receive His benediction…” The article from the January 26, 1936 edition of “The Montgomery Advertiser” is present. Titled ”Infantile Paralysis and the Oil Therapy,” it begins, “With interest focused on the battle against infantile paralysis as a result of the enthusiasm in connection with the coming Roosevelt birthday balls, it is an opportune time to call attention to the results of research made by Dr. George W. Carver, of Tuskegee Institute…He has already proved conclusively that peanut oils offer a possibility at least of adding to a man’s means of treating the after-effects of infantile paralysis…”
(April 14, 1936) “Dr. Baker, state Health Officer, was sent by the Governor yesterday to look into the peanut oil work that I am doing. I showed him your picture, and he took the affected leg and pointed out to the person that was with him the various defects and how it has been built up…” (September 16, 1936) “Your picture has done so much real missionary work for poor stricken individuals. I spoke yesterday down town before a Civitan Club on the work that I am doing with infantile paralysis.”
In very good to fine overall condition.
During this period, Carver was largely focused in treatments for infantile paralysis, including the use of peanut oil massages. His work garnered tremendous media attention as well as countless visits from hopeful parents and their ill children. Although the oil itself proved nonessential, Carver’s research showed that the accompanying massages did provide benefits to his patients. In 1939, he received the Roosevelt Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Southern Agriculture as "a scientist humbly seeking the guidance of God and a liberator to men of the white race as well as the black." RRAuction COA.
