Charles W. Chesnutt to Joyce H. Caldwell, 16 January 1931
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January 16, 1931
Miss Joyce H. Caldwell,
West Virginia State College,
Institute, W. Va.1
My dear Miss Caldwell:
I have your letter of January 13th. It will be quite as convenient for me to come on January 30th as on January 23rd, and you may look for me at that time.2
Will write you later about what train I shall take and when I shall arrive at Institute.
Respectfully, CWC:ESCorrespondent: 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. 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]
2. 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]