Autograph Letter Signed, To Nettie L. White. Barton, Clara.

An affectionate letter in which the author laments the death of her close friend Susan B. Anthony, who had died a few weeks before on 13 March 1906. Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, was an ardent supporter of the women's suffrage movement, of which White and Anthony were key figures. The letter addressed to White (1850-1921) expresses Barton's regret that, due to a prior engagement, she had been obliged to decline White's invitation to speak with Anthony at an event before Anthony's death. She poignantly describes the meeting that she had missed as "a glorious evening for [Anthony], a wonderful reception, but far less in grandeur, I feel, that the one so near, awaiting her at that moment, on the other shore". Anthony's significance to the women's suffrage movement in the US was immense, but she had become increasingly frail with age, something Barton makes reference to in this letter: "I wondered how she was to bear all the world of love and honour had heaped about her. The relief that has come is beautiful. We grieve, but she is good - she rests." Barton retired as president of the American Red Cross in 1904, at the age of 83, and founded the National First Aid Society in 1905. She served as the latter's honorary president for five years, emphasizing basic first aid instruction, emergency preparedness, and the development of first aids kits. The society was later absorbed into the American Red Cross. In the present letter, Barton references a "Red Cross book" that she presumably discussed with White previously. She worries that a potential book might be "misunderstood", demonstrating her continued sensitivity to the organization she founded even after she stepped down from an official leadership role. It is unclear if the letter refers to Barton's The Red Cross in Peace and War (1898) of which a new edition was published in 1906, or another planned book that did not come to fruition. Barton went on to publish her autobiography, The Story of My Childhood, the following year. Alongside humanitarian reform, Barton was a keen supporter of the suffrage movement. She often spoke publicly of her support for the cause, such as at the first National Women's Suffrage Convention, held in Washington DC in 1869. She was a close friend of many of the key figures in the movement, including Anthony, who she had met during her post-Civil War lecture tour from 1865 to 1868. White, also an ardent suffragist, was a pioneering stenographer who campaigned for the presence of women in the professional workforce. She served as president of the District of Columbia Woman Suffrage Association, one of the oldest suffrage organizations in the world. Single bifolium (folded to 164 x 134 mm), written on two sides in black ink. Central crease from fold as usual, pencil description at head noting contents: in near-fine condition.