Thank you for your pre-Boston cable;2 IHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2EH sends TSE Christmas cheese;f9 hope my card and gift from Over-Seas Associates agency will have reached you in time for the 25th; I wonder with whom you spend part of the day at least? I shall stay at my cousin’s Miss Cummings from to-morrow until Sat. whenHale, Emilyspends holidays in New Bedford;t9 IElsmith, Dorothy OlcottEH visits during Christmas holidays;d4 go as usual to New Bedford and perhaps for the second week-end in Jan. to Dorothy Elsmith. TheAbbot Academy, Andover, Massachusetts;b7 school re-opens Jan 9; at present both Phillips and Abbot are housing Hungarians of both sexes while the vacation is on!3 I have had a concentrated week of doing up my few gifts, sending off cards etc etc; theHale, Emilyas director ('producer');v9Holy Night;d2 miracle play was so beautiful and impressive in its effect on all who sat silent before it, that we gave a second presentation on the next Wed. P.M. at the special request of one of the Catholic members of the faculty, that the parish priest teaching sisters and some children and mothers might also benefit from the reverent story; others also came, so that the hall was three quarters full; all this was a happy distraction to girls, school, and E. H.
AfterDix, William Shepherdrequested to write to TSE;a8 your second letter re the Princeton matter I have tried my best to think through to the right answer and it seems to me to be this; I am asking Mr Dix to send you a statement which will as far as is possible cover the terms of the bequest as set down by you and me on both my own and on your behalf. InThorp, Willard;d4 fact in his first reply to my letter stating your reaction to his and Willards requests (I will ask you please to remember that in all this transaction I was acting as the go-[between – illegible] points of view than your own, and that naturally I am aware that I am very much a novice in these matters of professional academic literary matters and feeling my way as best I can through much that is very difficult for me. I repeat, Mr Dix suggested himself writing you a formal statement of the terms of the bequest to date, aware that such is naturally wholly necessary; I hope this correspondence with him will be as satisfactory to you as is possible.
Unless some unforeseen event or decision of yours occurs in which I must bear my share [illegible: the flaps of this aerogram are so badly torn that the text can not be reconstructed.]
May your New Year bring some comfort and strength to your writing.
1.This typed aerogram letter was at some point torn up, and has been reassembled with the aid of Sellotape: portions of the text are missing, some torn away. The closing sentiments are written by hand.
2.Cable not found.
3.The Hungarian Revolution, 23 Oct.–10 Nov. 1956, which began in Budapest, brought a nationwide uprising against the repressive communist government (sustained by the Soviet Union). On 4 Nov. Soviet troops were brought in to suppress the popular resistance: the upshot was that more than 2,500 Hungarians were killed, and 200,000 escaped into exile.
1.WilliamDix, William Shepherd Shepherd Dix (1910–78): Librarian, Princeton University, 1953–75. Having gained first degrees (BA and MA) at the University of Virginia, he earned a doctorate in American literature at the University of Chicago. After working first as a teacher and English instructor, he became Associate Professor of English and Librarian of Rice Institute, Houston, Texas (now Rice University), 1947–53. Resolutely opposed to censorship and intellectual constraint, he served as chair of the Intellectual Freedom Committee of the American Library Association (ALA), 1951–3; chair of the International Relations Committee, 1955–60; and President of the ALA, 1969–70. In addition, he was Executive Secretary, 1957–9, and President, 1962–3, of the Association of Research Libraries. Recognised as one of the topmost figures in librarianship, he was honoured by the American Library Association with the Dewey Medal, 1969, and the Lippincott Award, 1971.
4.TSEElsmiths, theseminal Woods Hole stay with;a1Elsmith, Dorothy Olcott
1.Margaret Thorp, née Farrand (1891–1970), contemporary and close friend of EH; noted author and biographer. WillardThorp, Willard Thorp (1899–1990) was a Professor of English at Princeton University. See Biographical Register. See further Lyndall Gordon, Hyacinth Girl, 126–8, 158–9.