Emily Hale to Margaret Thorp
Concord,
Massachusetts 01742
Your short note after the event of last Monday, was very welcome on Saturday. IThorp, Willard;e3 thoughtDix, William Shepherd;c2 naturally, a great deal of you, Willard and Bill Dix, since we four are so very intimately concerned with what is now a future as well as a past – mystery and remarkable personal story.
IHinkley, Eleanor Holmes (TSE's first cousin)informs EH of TSE's health;f8 had not known until last autumn – and then not in great detail from E.H.H. how terribly ill he has been for two or three years – the old bronchial weaknesses, plus many complications, so an oxygen tent seems to have been in constant attendance, Poor man.
TheEliot, Esmé Valerie (née Fletcher, TSE's second wife)admired by EH;d5 family report that Valerie has been very remarkable in her nursing as well as other wifely duties –: her life has indeed been devoted to his wants –, perhaps I could not have filled this requirement as she has done – perhaps – only perhaps – the decision to marry her was the right one!
IAmericaWoods Hole, Falmouth, Massachusetts;i2EH learns of TSE's death at;a8 had gone unexpectedly from New Bedford to Woods Hole – the doctor’s appointment being postponed – soElsmith, Dorothy Olcottpresent when EH learns of TSE's death;d6 that I was with Dorothy E, who knew both T.S.E., and our relationship almost as intimately as anyone.
I can’t answer you very closely as to ‘how I feel’ – some of it has come back so vividly, it has not been easy; and having the public know nothing is at once a blessing and a burden.
I am glad the cheese board is a success.
W. and Bill Dix will probably surmise that my appeal for change of terms to the publishing of the letters – or the presenting of them to the public – was never answered because Tom was too ill physically and so weak that any such re-awakening of old days – too exhausting.
ButBodleian Library, Oxfordletters which EH asks after;a2 I don’t know what terms will be made public or not of my letters in the Oxford library.
I try hard to take this all dispassionately but it is a little hard.
[Illegible sentence]
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.
7.EsméEliot, Esmé Valerie (née Fletcher, TSE's second wife) Valerie Fletcher (1926–2012) started work as TSE’s secretary on 12 Sept. 1949, and became his second wife on 10 Jan. 1957; after his death in Jan. 1965, his literary executor and editor: see 'Valerie Eliot' in Biographical Register.
4.TSEElsmiths, theseminal Woods Hole stay with;a1Elsmith, Dorothy Olcott
5.EleanorHinkley, Eleanor Holmes (TSE's first cousin) Holmes Hinkley (1891–1971), playwright; TSE’s first cousin; daughter of Susan Heywood Stearns – TSE’s maternal aunt – and Holmes Hinkley: see Biographical Register.
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.