Item #18794 Autograph Letter Signed from an Elderly Female Teacher's Experience with Poverty, 1919. Female Teacher.

Autograph Letter Signed from an Elderly Female Teacher's Experience with Poverty, 1919

ALS : Autograph Letter Signed

Autograph letter signed from Hannah L. Gowdy, a 19th century teacher who was part of the first wave of women entering the profession. 4.5" x 7.5". Gowdy, at this point old and impoverished, writes to an autograph collector, Frank Bohrer, about a business dealing:... having no cards, [I] send you a few lines, products of my leisure moments, which are short, for being a a pauper through deaths and frauds, I am homeless except what annuity I get from the Teachers Retirement Fund -- only 12 dollars per month. I pay a part of my board by feeble labor. Should your friends see fit to compound a book and fin anything of mine suitable, please use the same and upon receiving two copies will send you ten dollars next Aug." Elder poverty was very common prior to the introduction of Social Security by the Roosevelt administration in the 1930s, even amongst those who had worked in their adult lives. This was particuarly true for elderly women without family, which appears to be the case here. It seems that the Teachers Retirement Fund, which had been created in the last decade, was the only safety net she had. A poignant letter from a pioneering woman. Some paper loss at top edge, not affecting text, in very good condition overall.

Item #18794

Price: $185.00