[Gilman, Charlotte Perkins Stetson- Autograph Letter to Major Pond, Abolitionist and Lecture Manager] ALS from Charlotte Perkins Stetson, Prominent Early Feminist and Major Pond

Two pages on single octavo sheet. A fabulous association letter, from Charlotte Perkins [Gilman] Stetson to Major Pond, dated Fe. 7th, 1900 from Pasadena: "Dear Major Pond: All winter I have been trying to reach you through my lawyer in New York, Mr. Gilman; but without success. I have an offer for next winter from the Pelhams in Chicago Central Lyceum Bureau- of $250.00 a week guaranteed. I did not close with them because I had already half promised you - or at least you had written to me asking to make some arrangement. Now it must be decided at once to have time to make the autumn engagement. I mean to lecture for six weeks, from Nov 1st to Dec. 15th, 1900..." She goes on to try to arrange a telegraph and terms and the urges the necessity to notify the Pelhams. "If I do not hear from you before the end of the month I shall close with them. Mr. Gilman has taken you the newspaper clippings I sent on for the purpose..." Charlotte Gilman was a prominent American feminist, sociologist, novelist, poet and lecturer for social reform She was a utopian feminist during a time when her accomplishments were exceptional for women. She has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Her best remembered work today is her semi-autobiographical short story "The Yellow Wallpaper", which she wrote after a severe bout of postpartum psychosis. James Burton Pond (1838 ñ 1903), aka Major Pond, was an abolitionist and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War receiving the Medal of Honor who became a successful lecture manager whose clients included Mark Twain, Winston Churchill and Henry Stanley. Pond purchased the Lyceum Theatre Lecture Bureau and embarked on a career managing speakers, to which the present letter is pertinent. Somewhat creased. One long diagonal crease on first side is darkened. "Book" ink stamp on top portion. A very desirable association indeed.