Another Discovery

Two months after she spoke at the first state convention on universal suffrage held in 1867 in Vineland, suffragist Lucy Stone wrote the following letter to an unknown "dear friend" in Vineland: "New York, PO Box 299, Jan. 23, 1868 My dear friend, Your tract and mine, are waiting, delayed by the serious illness of our sister Dr. Emily Blackwell, to whom Mr. Blackwell is giving nearly all his time. We hope the worst will be over, in a few days and then we will attend to it. I am glad Mr. Clute came to help in a friendly way-- I think we shall have two good tracts-- The Independent of this week Jan. 23. Has a paragraph on our subjects in the leading editorial. 'The Pulse of Congress,' which might paragraph might be copies in your Vineland paper. Can you get it done? Did you see that the vote in Kansas was over 9000, and that Miss Emily Hunt is chosen enroling (sic) clerk for the Legislature of that state? The first woman who ever served in that capacity--see how even the prospect of a vote has made one new opening for woman. In haste truly, Lucy Stone." Stone was married to Dr. Henry Blackwell, whose sisters Elizabeth and Emily were the first two women in America to officially receive medical degrees. The letter is part of the museum's permanent archives.