FPK to Edna Hale, June 14, 1934
Dublin Core
Title
FPK to Edna Hale, June 14, 1934
Description
June 14, 1934
Dear Cousin Ednah:-
How very thoughtful of you to send me the "Autobiography of Miss Piano", parts of which, at least, I shall try to incorporate in my story about Aunt Nancy. I will have this manuscript copied for you as soon as possible--which may not be immediately--and shall treasure it in connection with the piano which still stands in the corner of my mother's parlor. I should also like immensely to have your mother's letters of which you speak, and would take every care of them while they were in my possession; but I would have to accept them with the understanding that I could not promise to return them at any definite period, since I never know when I am going to be able to create the time for reading and transcription of that character.
I am also delighted to have the fan from the Centennial to add to my collection. Do you, by any chance, know to whom it originally belonged and anything about the circumstances of its acquisition? I ask because I have been requested to write an article on my fans, and I am searching for all available material. As to the fans that have gone to the Rhode Island School of Design, I am simply heart-broken. Would there by any chance do yo suppose of retrieving at least one of them? It would mean a great deal to me to have it, since I would cherish a sentiment for it as a family heirloom which no curator of a museum could ever feel, and it would be as carefully guarded as where it is now, since my collection is put into a safe deposit vault every summer when the house is closed.
I should have acknowledged your letter of April 16th more promptly, had it not been for the fact that very shortly after I received it I was very badly injured in an automobile accident and spent weeks after this in a condition of helpless suffering. I am just beginning now to get about the house for a few hours each day and to make an effort to catch up again with neglected correspondence and other duties. One of the leading colleges in New England is planning to confer an honorary degree "for marked distinction in literary work" upon me next week, and I hope to be well enough to go and receive it. If I do, however, I shall return here again, as I shall not be able to pack and close the house before this time.
I am herewith returning the copy of my article on Aunt Nancy which I loaned you before, and I shall be very glad to have you keep it indefinitely unless some unforeseen circumstance makes it necessary for me to request its return. In which case I will let you know. Under separate cover I am sending you a copy of my latest novel which I am delighted to present to you as a gift in slight token of my appreciation of your gift of the fan, and the piano manuscript. I think I told you when I last wrote that my first historical novel is now running serially in HOME MAGAZINE, having begun in the March issue, and that it is scheduled for early fall publication. When it come out I will give that to you also as its scene is laid in the Upper Connecticut Valley and many of our ancestors figure in its pages. So I believe it will have a special interest for you.
Thank you for sending me the little calendar. I did not realize it was a gift.
With affectionate regards,
Very sincerely yours,
Dear Cousin Ednah:-
How very thoughtful of you to send me the "Autobiography of Miss Piano", parts of which, at least, I shall try to incorporate in my story about Aunt Nancy. I will have this manuscript copied for you as soon as possible--which may not be immediately--and shall treasure it in connection with the piano which still stands in the corner of my mother's parlor. I should also like immensely to have your mother's letters of which you speak, and would take every care of them while they were in my possession; but I would have to accept them with the understanding that I could not promise to return them at any definite period, since I never know when I am going to be able to create the time for reading and transcription of that character.
I am also delighted to have the fan from the Centennial to add to my collection. Do you, by any chance, know to whom it originally belonged and anything about the circumstances of its acquisition? I ask because I have been requested to write an article on my fans, and I am searching for all available material. As to the fans that have gone to the Rhode Island School of Design, I am simply heart-broken. Would there by any chance do yo suppose of retrieving at least one of them? It would mean a great deal to me to have it, since I would cherish a sentiment for it as a family heirloom which no curator of a museum could ever feel, and it would be as carefully guarded as where it is now, since my collection is put into a safe deposit vault every summer when the house is closed.
I should have acknowledged your letter of April 16th more promptly, had it not been for the fact that very shortly after I received it I was very badly injured in an automobile accident and spent weeks after this in a condition of helpless suffering. I am just beginning now to get about the house for a few hours each day and to make an effort to catch up again with neglected correspondence and other duties. One of the leading colleges in New England is planning to confer an honorary degree "for marked distinction in literary work" upon me next week, and I hope to be well enough to go and receive it. If I do, however, I shall return here again, as I shall not be able to pack and close the house before this time.
I am herewith returning the copy of my article on Aunt Nancy which I loaned you before, and I shall be very glad to have you keep it indefinitely unless some unforeseen circumstance makes it necessary for me to request its return. In which case I will let you know. Under separate cover I am sending you a copy of my latest novel which I am delighted to present to you as a gift in slight token of my appreciation of your gift of the fan, and the piano manuscript. I think I told you when I last wrote that my first historical novel is now running serially in HOME MAGAZINE, having begun in the March issue, and that it is scheduled for early fall publication. When it come out I will give that to you also as its scene is laid in the Upper Connecticut Valley and many of our ancestors figure in its pages. So I believe it will have a special interest for you.
Thank you for sending me the little calendar. I did not realize it was a gift.
With affectionate regards,
Very sincerely yours,
Creator
Frances Parkinson Keyes
Source
From the collection of Frances Parkinson Keyes Papers, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library.
Date
1934-06-14
Contributor
Hope Greenberg
Identifier
Box 1, folder 11