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Mary A. Fisher to Walt Whitman, 1 May 1890

 loc.02078.001_large.jpg Mr Walt Whitman Dear Sir

Would you be willing to accept of a dollar or two to furnish some little luxury which you would not otherwise obtain?

It would come occasionally from a few ladies who appreciate your  loc.02078.002_large.jpg  loc.02078.003_large.jpg genius, & intend making it their life object to aid & encourage literary talent so far as their limited means will furnish.

Very respectfully M.A. Fisher. Mr Whitman  loc.02078.004_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Mary A. Fisher (1839–1920) was the founder of the Home-Hotel Association, incorporated in 1888 with the mission of providing aid to arists, writers, and other professional people in need. Fisher had previously written to Whitman on September 21, 1889, sending him their Annual Report and requesting him to read at a benefit for the Association. The address of 71 Java Street was the Association's temporary address until the Home-Hotel moved to permanent rooms on St. Ann's Avenue in the Bronx. The Association quickly outgrew those rooms and relocated to Tenafly, New Jersey, in 1899, where Fisher wrote her book The Story of the Mary Fisher Home (1915).

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