In an Unpublished Letter to Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Niece, Susan B. Anthony Recalls Her “Dear Friend Mrs. Stanton” and Sends Her Newly Published Work on Women’s Rights

In 1851, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton met in Seneca Falls, NY.  They would spend the next several decades together fighting for the rights of women, Anthony as organizer and tactician and Stanton as writer and orator.  On Stanton's death, Anthony related that Stanton had "forged the thunderbolts" that she had fired.  Theirs is one of the more consequential relationships of the 19th century and images of them together are synonymous with the women's suffrage movement.

Their goal was not simply to secure women equal rights, but to elevate the women pioneers of their movement to equal status as male historical figures.  In 1876, Anthony and Stanton conceived of a monumental project memorializing their movement and its early pioneers.  This became their magnum opus, the 4 volume "The History of Woman Suffrage." Volumes 1 & 2 were published in 1881.  Volume 3 was published in 1886.  

Among the women honored in the work was Dr. Alice Bennett, who in 1880 she became the first woman to obtain a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and the first woman superintendent of the women's section of the State Hospital for the Insane in Norristown, Pennsylvania. In 1890 she was the first woman to be elected president of the Montgomery County (Pennsylvania) Medical Society.  She improved the treatment of women patients with mental illness by abolishing restraints and introducing occupational therapy at the state hospital where she served as superintendent.

Margaret Livingston Wilkeson Corson was the daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's sister, or Stanton's niece.  The children often referred to Stanton as "Aunt Lib."

Autograph letter signed, Rochester, NY, March 19 1887, to Stanton's niece.  "My dear Mrs. Corson, "In memory of your Auntie Lib – as most of the nieces call my friend Mrs. Stanton – I send you Vol II & III of History of Woman Suffrage – to complete your set of the huge work.  I hope you will loan them and make them do good service in educating the people of your city. You will find in the Pennsylvania Chapter in Vol III a nice tribute paid to Dr. Bennett of your city – or rather state asylum.  Won't you be so good as to show it to her. I hear from your Aunt now and then – and I called on your mother & the aunties at no. 8 – Jan. 20th, just last month."

A search of public records indicates that in 1979, a letter of Anthony to Stanton herself reached the public market. We have found that no other letter of Anthony to Stanton or one of Stanton's family members having surfaced since then. This is the first such letter that we have had, and also one of just a few letters of Anthony mentioning Stanton by name.