Charles W. Chesnutt to Joyce H. Caldwell, 26 March 1931
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March 26, 1931
My dear Miss Caldwell:
I have your letter of March 24th, and in reply thereto would say that I had been hoping that I would be able to come to you on the date you mention, April 26th, but the condition of my health has been such that my family, consisting of my wife1 and daughters,2 who have to take care of me when I am ill, think that I should not undertake such a long trip in the spring. I am therefore regretfully compelled to decline your cordial invitation. I regret this exceedingly, as I was looking forward to a pleasant visit to one of the most progressive of the southern schools.
I hope that my inability to come will not mar your program, and shall hope for an opportunity to visit you some time in the not too distant future.3
With thanks and best wishes, Cordially yours, Miss Joyce H. Caldwell, President Literary Club, W. Va. State College, Institute, W., Va.4Correspondent: Joyce H. Caldwell (b. 1910), the student president of the Literary Club at West Virginia State College (later University), graduated in May of 1931 and returned to her home state of North Carolina to become a schoolteacher.
1. Susan Perry Chesnutt (1861–1940) was from a well-established Black family in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and worked as a teacher at Fayetteville's Howard School before marrying Chesnutt. They were married from 1878 until his death in 1932 and had four children: Ethel, Helen, Edwin, and Dorothy. Susan led an active life in Cleveland. [back]
2. In 1922, two of Chesnutt's daughters, Helen and Dorothy, were living with their parents while pursuing their careers. After finishing college in 1904, Helen had returned to Cleveland to work as a secondary-school teacher, and she continued to live at the house until her mother's death in 1940. Dorothy lived with her parents as a student, probation officer, and eventually junior-high teacher, until her husband completed his medical degree in 1931. [back]
3. In late 1930, Chesnutt agreed to give a reading to the Literary Club of West Virginia State College, a student organization. In 1930 and 1931, the club discussed nine Black authors and their works. Upon Chesnutt's request, they offered to pay his travel expenses. After initial confusion about the date, the visit was planned for January 30, 1931, but Chesnutt suddenly became ill; on January 31, 1931, Chesnutt's daughter Helen informed the Club's president, Joyce Caldwell, about the last-minute cancellation. An attempt to reschedule the reading for April 1931 came to nothing. [back]
4. West Virginia State College (now University) is a historically Black land-grant university founded in 1891 in Institute, West Virginia, as the West Virginia Colored Institute. Initially focused on teacher preparation and vocational training, it began to offer college degrees in 1915. [back]
