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(EDUCATION.) Carver, George Washington. Letter regarding an upcoming lecture tour. Autograph Letter Signed "G.W. Carver" to [James] Hardwick. 2 pages, 11 x 8 1/4 inches, on one sheet of Tuskegee Institute letterhead; folds, minor soiling. Tuskegee Institute, AL, 19 October 1933
The recipient of this letter was a much younger white evangelist, James Hardwick, with whom Carver carried on an intense correspondence over decades. Christina Vella's 2015 biography of Carver discusses the "delicate and easily contorted . . . question of whether Carver's love for Hardwick was an erotic attachment" (page 213). This letter discusses an upcoming lecture tour, possibly on behalf of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. "My dear boy Mr. Hardwick: Your letter, my great spiritual boy, is quite encouraging. . . . I hope we will have money enough to have a drawing room. We can have a great time. . . . Get all the data you can on your Miss. trip. Dear, I believe God is going to work this thing out all right for us. If we go to N.Y. City, we may have some of our trustees with us at the meeting. Please make it clear to Mr. Elliott that we prefer to meet the students rather than a small group of the elite at a dinner engagement. Keep praying victory will be ours. Your spirit seems right here with me."
