Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -
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Sale 2697 - Lot 166

Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(EDUCATION.) Booker T. Washington. Group of letters regarding the employment of a young instructor at Tuskegee Institute. 4 Letters Signed to L.G. and J.J. Wheeler, each on Washington's Tuskegee letterhead; mailing folds, minor wear. Tuskegee, AL, 1898 and 1905
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Additional Details

While Booker T. Washington's fundraising letters are often seen on the market, we less frequently gain insight into his work as an administrator of staff. These four letters relate to the work of a young instructor on his faculty.

Lloyd Garrison Wheeler (1849-1909) was born into a free Black family in Ohio, active in the Underground Railroad. After the war, he attended law school and became a leading attorney for Chicago's Black elite. He was a friend of Booker T. Washington, and established a branch of Washington's Negro Business League in Chicago in 1901, and moved south in 1903 to serve as the financial manager for Washington's Tuskegee Institute. These letters relate to the employment of Lloyd's son John Jones Wheeler (1872-1944) at Tuskegee.

In the first letter, dated 10 January 1898, Washington offers to hire Wheeler's son, although the exact position is left vague: "We should like very much like to have your son John take a position in this institution next year. . . . I do not care just now to outline the special work which we wish him to do . . . but it will be work that he is perfectly capable of mastering. . . . I feel that he will like our institution and the general atmosphere of this place. I would have suggested his taking a position here a year ago but in some way I got it into my mind that you wished to keep him in Chicago with you."

The remaining three letters are addressed to Lloyd's son John, attempting to dissuade him from leaving Tuskegee. Washington's 15 April 1905 message is somewhat threatening: "The school values the services you have rendered it during the past year, and desires you to remain in its employ. . . . In several cases in past years, after teachers have made an agreement to remain here, they have found, during the Summer, that they could get a larger salary by breaking their contract and going elsewhere. In sending you this note, I desire to say plainly that in case you agree to remain, and afterward break the agreement, that the school will exercise every reasonable effort to see that the promise to return is compiled with."

On 10 August 1905, Washington sees the need to follow through on his threat: "I am writing to state that I cannot accept the resignation. . . . I have always appreciated the manner in which you performed your work, and the spirit shown no matter whether the work agreeable or disagreeable, and I trust you will not mar the record, made by you, in a manner that is not proper."

On 31 August 1905, Washington finally allows young Wheeler to leave Tuskegee, but only after intervention by his prominent father: "I have just received a letter from your father, also read the letter which you sent him. I shall leave the entire matter to you, if you still feel to resign, we shall accept your resignation."

With--a retained draft letter from John J. Wheeler to J.N. Waring of the Colored High School in Baltimore, dated Tuskegee, AL, 14 November 1904, regarding the job he may have left Tuskegee for "I herewith make application for a position in the Manual Training Department of your school, preferably in the iron-working department. . . . I am at present employed and have been for the past six years at this place, the Tuskegee Institute. While here I have taught physics, chemistry, mathematics, have done considerable work in the machine division, and at present I teach drawing to the boys in the machine, blacksmith, foundry, electrical and tinsmith division."

Provenance: John J. Wheeler to his widow Elise Beatrice Forrest Harleston Wheeler (1891-1970); descent through the family.

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