Poultney Bigelow (1855-1954) was a journalist and author. This collection consists primarily of his letters to his friend Louise Osborne Cox, who lived in Watertown, New York, and had a summer home on Grindstone Island. Bigelow's letters date from...
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Poultney Bigelow (1855-1954) was a journalist and author. This collection consists primarily of his letters to his friend Louise Osborne Cox, who lived in Watertown, New York, and had a summer home on Grindstone Island. Bigelow's letters date from 1931 to 1950 and are written from his home in Malden-on-Hudson or sometimes during his international travels. Subjects of the letters include Bigelow's social activities; countries he visited; contemporary works of history and literature; sex and censorship; the state of the popular press; and American and European politics. Some recurring topics in the correspondence are Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany (which Bigelow admired);
Lady Chatterly's Lover and Cox's apparent reluctance to read it; the Ends of the Earth club, of which Bigelow was a member; and the beers and ales that Cox supplied to Bigelow, both during and after Prohibition. The collection also contains letters from other correspondents concerning Bigelow (the latest dating to 1961); letters from Bigelow to Cox's daughter, Betty; and letters to Bigelow that came to be in Cox's possession. The latter include a letter from Prince Frederick of Prussia (using the name Count Lingen) and a photocopy of a letter from Rudyard Kipling. The collection also contains newspaper clippings and cartoons (the earliest dating to 1909), articles written by Bigelow, and a photograph of Bigelow.
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