Last week, I wrote about the friendship between Beatrice Fox Auerbach and Eleanor Roosevelt, as evidenced through their correspondence. I thought it might be fun this week to include a sample letter from the collection.
Here are the scanned images of a letter Mrs. Roosevelt wrote to Mrs. Auerbach on June 17, 1960:
If you have trouble reading her handwriting, you are not alone. It took three of us to decipher the line Mrs. Roosevelt scribbled at the bottom of the letter and we were only able to do it after comparing this letter with other examples of Mrs. R’s handwriting! We think it is in reference to her raincoat and says, “It is green + not elegant!” (Also, in case it’s not clear, on the first page, the word ‘leaving’ is replaced with the word ‘bringing.’)
This letter is typical of much of the correspondence between the two women. I chose this letter specifically because it offers a neat glimpse into the personality of Eleanor Roosevelt.
inside the CHS 