WP - The Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project

Washington DC, 12 Feb 1887, enclosing press cuttings (not
present) apparently reporting a social occasion hosted by
spiritualist Mrs Hooker, sister of Henry Ward Beecher and Mrs
Beecher Stowe, at which Alfred Russel Wallace was introduced to
about 50 people; lectures to local Anthropological societies; lack
of paying lectures, if none booked in California will not be able to
afford to go there as fare is £50; only two forthcoming
engagements in Canada; spending time visiting Museums and
libraries and writing for American newspapers and for Harris;
expense of hotel; changeable weather; detailed description of the
''most beautiful'' Capitol building and comparison with British
House of Commons; instructions to send letters via agent
Williams; hopes Violet is reading and studying well.
Stamped envelope addressed to Miss Wallace at Frith Hill,
Godalming and postmarked on the front Washington 14 Feb
1887and on the back New York? (date illegible) 1887 and
Godalming 25 Feb 1887.
Name: Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913
Wallace, Violet Isabel?, born 1869
Hooker, Isabella Beecher, 1822-1907
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896
Place: Washington DC USA
Notes: Some names and passages including the comparison of the
Capitol with the H of C, are underlined or marked in red pencil,
possibly by J Marchant.
WP1/5/18 Letters from the USA and Canada
Letter from Alfred Russel Wallace to his wife Annie from The
Hamilton hotel, Washington DC, 14 Feb 1887, re walk in the
woods with botanist professor Ward, sending a collection of plants
including ferns packed in moss in a biscuit tin, instructions for
potting, Spotted Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) and
Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) to be given to Miss
Jekyll and a sedge, Carex platyphylla, to Annie's father William
Mitten, plants listed by botanical and common names; description
of trees and other plants seen; curious appearance of fields without
hedgerows; Paulownia imperialis, a tree with flowers like foxgloves,
grows to great height in Washington gardens; would like
to stay and see woods in summer if finances permitted but there
seems to be no demand for scientific lectures as too many
scientists on the circuit; hopes Annie has succeeded in letting
house or getting a boarder.
Stamped envelope addressed to Mrs Wallace at Frith Hill,
Godalming and postmarked on the front Washington 14 Feb
1887and on the back New York 15 Feb 1887 and Godalming 25
Feb 1887.
Name: Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913
Wallace, Annie, née Mitten, born c.1846
Lester Frank Ward, 1841-1913
Place: Washington DC USA
Notes: 2 folios
142
14 Feb 1887
WP1