An empty used envelope from 1909, got our Ernest Bell Library team talking a lot today.
And the best part……
……a tatty, but glorious, circa 1909 ‘Ingersoll family’ – ‘Anti-Vivisection Crusade’ Cinderella stamp, featuring a dog ‘sitting’ on a vivisector’s knife, has survived for 100+ years and is now in our Ernest Bell Library.
~ In philately, a cinderella stamp is “virtually anything resembling a postage stamp, but not issued for postal purposes by a government postal administration…” ~ – Wiki
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The Front of the Envelope
US Postal History #332 Single Franking – Washington Two Cents on cover.
Postmarked 7/16/1909 from Greenwich CT to New York NY.
With an stylized 13 star / 13 stripe flag as the postmark.
Addressed to –
Mr. George E. Macdonald
62 Vesey Street
New York City
N. Y.
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The Back of the Envelope
‘Anti-Vivisection Crusade’ Cinderella Seal / Label
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Connections
Where shall we start?
62 Vesey St. was the HQ of the ‘Truthseeker Company’ – America’s foremost ‘freethought’ publisher – with strong links to Walt Whitman, Robert ‘Bob’ E. Ingersoll and…..
From a New York City Directory of the period –
Truthseeker Company
62 Vesey St.
Freethought – Agnostic – Anti-Christian
The Publisher / Editor of the Truthseeker Company from 1909-1937 was – George E. Macdonald – the addressee.
A book by – George E. Macdonald
Fifty Years of Freethought: Being the Story of the Truth Seeker – 2 volumes were published – 1929 – 1931 – transcribed – here
Foreword by CLARENCE DARROW
NEW YORK: THE TRUTH SEEKER COMPANY 1931
FOREWORD
The Author, Mr. George E. Macdonald, is not a college man, but he is an educated man. He has read good books all his life. He has read them without fear and with a full understanding. And as a writer he has always been loyal to the truth as he understood it. He has clung to this ideal in spite of all handicaps, disapproval and danger. He has been a valiant soldier for human liberty. He tells the story well. I want especially to commend his literary style. It is simple and direct. It is never obscure nor clouded. He writes to be understood. No words was wasted or used only to adorn. His history is absorbing throughout, and everyone who reads it will realize that he is reading the words of an honest man who believes that loyalty to truth is the highest aim. The possibility of quibbling or lying never enters his head. It is a plain and interesting story told by a man who has lived a plain life and has written for the sake of telling the truth and nothing else. I commend this rare production to all who want to know something about the struggle for truth and freedom in America, and the devoted men who made it.
CLARENCE DARROW.
Chicago, April 15, 1931.
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Clarence Darrow – E. Howard Crosby – Henry S. Salt – “Jennie” Darrow – J. Howard Moore – Ernest Bell
Now, Clarence Darrow was highly appreciated by E. Howard Crosby (prominent advocate of vegetarianism & animal rights), and by one of our favorite ‘freethinkers’ from the UK, Henry S. Salt.
Clarence Darrow is remembered as an ‘on and off’ vegetarian.
……Clarence Darrow’s sister – Louise Jessie “Jennie” Darrow was married to J. Howard Moore. ‘Jennie” and Howard were both prominent advocates of vegetarianism & animal rights. Henry S. Salt and Ernest Bell both were friends with J. Howard Moore, and they both greatly appreciated his writings / his thinking.
Ernest Bell published editions of some of Moore’s books in the UK & regularly used Moore’s content in his animal rights journals.
Henry S. Salt writing in his autobiography The Company I Have Kept Salt stated that,
“I have long thought that Moore’s chief book, The Universal Kinship, the gist of which is clearly expressed in the title, is the best ever written in the humanitarian cause.”
In The Company I Have Kept Henry S. Salt paid the following tribute to Moore,
“I have a theory that we judge best of the reality of friendships in absence; and if this be true, I cannot have been mistaken as to the warmth of my feelings for Howard Moore, for I never saw him in person, though we corresponded regularly for years, and I have still a big packet of his letters which show him to have been no less lovable as a man than he was brilliant as a writer.”
……and in another autobiographical book Henry S. Salt talks about Crosby, Darrow & Moore.
Seventy Years Among Savages
by Salt, Henry Stephens, 1851-1939
Published: 1921
Publisher: London : Allen & Unwin – pages 207 & 207 – in full here
Transcribed –
Clarence Darrow, brother-in-law of Howard Moore and friend of Crosby, was another of our American comrades. He arrived one afternoon unexpectedly at the League’s office, with a letter of introduction from Crosby. It is often difficult to know what to do with such letters in the presence of their bearer — whether to keep him waiting till the message has been deciphered, or to greet him without knowing fully who he is — but on this occasion a glance at Crosby’s first three words was enough, for I saw: ” This is Darrow,” and I knew that Darrow was the author of ” Crime and Criminals,” an entirely delightful lecture, brimming over with humour and humanity, which had been delivered to the prisoners of the Chicago County Gaol; and I had heard of him from Crosby as a brilliant and successful advocate, who had devoted his genius not to the quest of riches or fame, but to the cause of the poor and the accused. It was Darrow ; and as I looked into a face in which strength and tenderness were wonderfully mingled, the formalities of first acquaintance seemed to be mercifully dispensed with, and I felt as if I had known him for years. Since that time Darrow has become widely known in America by his pleadings in the Haywood and other Labour trials, and more recently through the McNamara case. He is the author of several very remarkable works. His Farmington is a fascinating book of reminiscences, and An Eye for an Eye the most impressive story ever written on the subject of the death-penalty.
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Now to discuss the Cinderella Stamp / Seal
THE EVENING STAR, INDEPENDENCE, KANSAS, SUNDAY MORNING, OCT. 25, 1908
The daughters of Colonel Ingersoll have long been interested in the work of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and similar humanitarian movements. The new society hopes to do away with the necessity for vivisection and other cruel methods of scientific research. A new society which will attract general attention under the name, of the American Society for Humane Medical Research. Mrs. Eva Ingersoll Brown Treasurer and Miss Maud Ingersoll, the daughters of the late Colonel Robert Ingersoll, the distinguished orator, lawyer and agnostic, are the moving spirits back of the organization. Mrs. Sue M. Farrell, a sister of the colonel, and her husband, C. P. Farrell, a publisher of this city, are also interested in the movement. The organization is the outgrowth of the recent anti-vivisection crusade. The objects, according to the papers of incorporation, are to conduct clinical and laboratory research in medical science. source
The Anti-Vivisection Crusade was an ‘Ingersoll family’ campaign.
The New York Times – Tuesday, October 6, 1908
New Medical Society Incorporates
Supreme Court Justice Gerard approved the incorporation of the American Society for Humane Medical Research yesterday. The objects of the society are to conduct clinical and laboratory research in medical sciences: to maintain chemical, physical. biological, and physiological laboratories.
Names linked in a slightly decipherable part of the article are – C. P. Farrell, Maud R. Ingersoll & Eva I. F. Brown (Eva had married Walton H. Brown) – source
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The Strongest Anti-Vivisectionist Clan of America
Some wonderful people – 5 very active anti-vivisectionists – born from 1833 on – so the eldest was 80 when this photo was taken & still working for animals –
International Anti-vivisection Congress,
Washington, D.C., December 1913
About this pioneering team –
……not in the picture – he had died in 1899 – Robert Green “Bob” Ingersoll (August 11, 1833 – July 21, 1899) – archives
Top left & bottom right we have the Parker sisters – fully explained below!
Back row: Left
Mrs. Clinton Pichney Farrell – or Sue M. Farrell – (?1856 – 27 November 1940) – maiden name Sue M. Parker – the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Weld Parker, a prominent family in Groveland, Illinois.
The younger sister of Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll – below. Her parents were devotees of Paine and Voltaire and held unorthodox religious views. Her grandmother, Sarah Buckman Parker, was known to be extremely bright and was also known to be an “infidel.”
Married to Clinton “Clint” Pichney Farrell (1850-1925). He was Robert Ingersoll’s brother-in-law, lecture tour manager, and the authorized publisher of his works. In addition to those, he published “liberal and scientific books” written by other authors. Clint was born in Peoria, Ill. Clinton Pichney Farrell died in Rye, N.Y. on April 22, 1925.
Sue M. Farrell served as president of both the Vivisection Investigation League and the American Humane Society.
Back row: Right
Mrs. Florence Cornelia Pell Waring – (17 January 1846 – ?) – married to Pierre Crosby Waring (1861-1909) – formerly Mrs. Florence Cornelia Pell Brown (first husband Nathan Clifford Brown) – maiden name Florence Cornelia Pell. In the 1908 book – The Prominent Families of the United States of America edited by Arthur Meredyth Burke – p463.
Front row: Left
Mrs. Caroline E. White – (28 September 1833 – 7 September 1916) maiden name Caroline Earle – an American philanthropist and anti-vivisection activist.
She co-founded the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PSPCA) in 1867, founded its women’s branch (WPSPCA) in 1869, and founded the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) in 1883.
Front row: Centre
Miss Louise ‘Lizzy’ Lind-af-Hageby – (20 September 1878 – 26 December 1963) was a Swedish-British feminist and animal rights advocate who became one of England’s most prominent anti-vivisection activists.
Front row: Right
Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll – (4 May 1841 – 2 February 1923) – maiden name Eva Amelia Parker.
The elder sister of Mrs. Clinton Pichney Farrell – above.
Eva was the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Weld Parker, a prominent family in Groveland, Illinois. Her parents were devotees of Paine and Voltaire and held unorthodox religious views. Her grandmother, Sarah Buckman Parker, was known to be extremely bright and was also known to be an “infidel.”
It is believed Eva’s lack of traditional religious views was influential in the intellectual development of her husband, Bob Ingersoll.
Bob Ingersoll was closely connected to the English anti-vivisectionists – especially with Henry S. Salt. more
They all prominently featured in last year’s Light in Dark Places exhibition at the National Museum of Animals & Society in Los Angeles – which was curated by Julia Orr.
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Back to the Recipient of the Envelope
We are extremely happy that George E. Macdonald did not ‘bin’ the envelope after opening it.
We had heard of the – Anti-Vivisection Crusade – but this is the first little piece of paraphernalia which we have ever seen which is linked to it.
Bob Ingersoll had died in 1899. His widow Eva, and his daughters Eva & Maud, and their relatives & friends, were pillars of various anti-vivisection & animal rights groups in the US, right up to 1940 in the case of Sue. M. Farrell. Some of the groups which they started, & helped build up, still exist today.
George E. Macdonald helped to produce Bob Ingersoll’s complete works, 12 volumes, which were published in 1900.
C. P. Farrell gave his thanks to George E. Macdonald in the Publisher’s Preface –
“……and to none is the publisher more indebted, than to Mr. I. Newton Baker, Mr. Ingersoll’s former private secretary, to Dr. Edgar C. Beall, and to Mr. George E. Macdonald for the fine Tables of Contents and the very valuable Index to this edition.
C. P. FARRELL.“
…..and the Ingersoll family had homes / offices at Greenwich CT, where the envelope was posted.
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Our Conclusion
So this envelope, very likely, contained a letter from a member of the Ingersoll family.
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More on ‘Bob’ Ingersoll
Robert Green Ingersoll and the Golden Age of American Freethought – here
Robert Ingersoll’s Obituary – as a .pdf file – here
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A Good Day
This old envelope caused many books & papers to be taken out.
……and it has caused us to remember & to reflect on the lives of some of our favorite people.
Links are given below to the best information source which we know for each of them.
We suspect that several more of them were vegetarians – but we do not yet have solid evidence.
Ernest Bell – freethinker – vegetarian advocate – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Henry S. Salt – poet – freethinker – vegetarian advocate – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
George E. Macdonald – freethinker
Walt Whitman – poet – freethinker
Clarence Darrow – freethinker – ‘on & off’ vegetarian – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
E. Howard Crosby – freethinker – vegetarian advocate – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
J. Howard Moore – freethinker – vegetarian advocate – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Louise Jessie “Jennie” Darrow – freethinker – vegetarian advocate – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Eva Ingersoll Brown – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Maud Ingersoll – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Sue M. Farrell – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Clinton “Clint” Pichney Farrell – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Florence Cornelia Pell Waring – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Caroline E. White – freethinker – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Louise ‘Lizzy’ Lind-af-Hageby – freethinker – vegetarian advocate – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll – (Eva Amelia Parker) – freethinker – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
Robert G. Ingersoll – freethinker – animal rights advocate – anti-vivisectionist
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Our Projects
The Henry Salt Archive is one of our, almost completed, projects.
The Humanitarian League is our Hong Kong registered charity.
The Ernest Bell Library was conceived in 1934. It is still strong & very active eighty years later – its primary objectives are to: –
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Collect all of Ernest Bell’s book & non-book works and make them easily accessible to everyone.
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Collect the literature of vegetarianism and all the other humanitarian movements in which Ernest Bell was so deeply involved.
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Assist students and scholars in their research.
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Introduce all aspects of Ernest Bell’s life, including his writings, campaign work, influences and his circle of friends.
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Undertake our own research into missing aspects of Ernest Bell’s life and work.
We already have more than 300 pieces of Ernest Bell’s own writings.
We are also actively building a collection of examples of promotional material, campaign material, fundraising & marketing activities etc. – related to: –
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veg(etari)an products.
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veg(etari)an books & other publications.
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veg(etari)an organisations.
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veg(etari)an businesses.
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animal rights organisations.
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animal rights publications.
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humanitarian organisations.
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humanitarian publications.
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rambling clubs run by members of the above groups & related publications.
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the work of Richard St. Barbe Baker & the ‘Men of the Trees’ organization & its many sub-branches.
There are currently more than 2,000 items in the Ernest Bell Library.
We will complete the cataloging of the collection as & when adequate funds are available.
It is long past time for the library to go online!
“I have little doubt that the proposal for the establishment of an Ernest Bell Library, which would specialize in humanitarian and progressive literature, and so form a sort of centre for students, will meet with a wide response.”
Henry S. Salt – writing in September 1934
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If anyone would like more information, please send an email to: –
humanitarianleague (at) outlook (dot) com
– or message me through HappyCow –
https://www.happycow.net/blog/author/JohnnySensible/
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Henry S. Salt was “…The First Writer To Consider The Issue Of Animal Rights Explicitly, As Opposed To Better Animal Welfare.”
Undercover Activism 100+ Years Ago!
The Cat by Henry S. Salt : The Mieaou Club : Harrison Weir
“Light in Dark Places: Anti-Vivisection from the Victorian Era to Modern Day”
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