Carbon copy of Ellen Milliken FitzSimons's letter accepting retirement and the role of Honorary Librarian, May 27, 1948
Book 1, Page 490 ·1948
Transcription
May 27, 1948
Board of Trustees of the Charles[ton Library Society] Gentlemen:
I am quite overwhwamed by y[our beautiful] resolutions with regard to my [fifty years of] service to the Library and you[r very generous] arrangement for my being retir[ed from active] service October 1, 1948. The s[incere over]appreciation of my efforts exp[ressed by warm] friends and fellow workers goe[s to my heart].
My work for the Library ha[s been and is] a pleasure, but I realize that [it is best for] me to be an Honorary Librarian on October 1, 1[948] not burdened with deciding its policies but ready to help where I can still be useful.
Sincerely yours,
P. S. Thank you, Mr. Ingle, for making me feel that you “took pleasure in handing me this copy.” I suppose it is right to send this through you.
AI Notes
A single sheet of typed letter — apparently a carbon copy or the writer’s file copy — on thin onion-skin paper, the right-hand edge of which is clipped off the page so that the last three or four characters of each line are missing. Dated May 27, 1948 and addressed to the Board of Trustees of the Charleston Library Society. The letter is Ellen Milliken FitzSimons’s reply to the trustees’ resolutions of appreciation on her retirement after fifty years as Librarian. She accepts the role of Honorary Librarian and adds a brief P.S. addressed to a “Mr. Ingle” who delivered the resolution to her. Unsigned in this copy. Companion piece to the resolutions and the College of Charleston honorary-degree letter referenced on page 488. The bracketed gap-fillers (“[ton Library Society]”, “[our beautiful]”, “[fifty years of]”, “[r very generous]”, “[d from active]”, “[incere over]”, “[ressed by warm]”, “[s to my heart]”, “[s been and is]”, “[it is best for]”) are inferred from natural paragraph rhythm, sentence structure, and the convention of typing carbon copies wide enough for the entire message. The typewriter typo “overwhwamed” (= overwhelmed) and the superscript “1,1” after “October 1” (a date repetition / strike-out artifact) are preserved as on the page.
The bracketed gap-fillers above supply the words clipped at the right-hand margin of the carbon, where the page is trimmed off. The letter is Ellen’s reply to the formal resolutions of the Charleston Library Society’s board of trustees on her retirement after fifty years (1898–1948) as the Society’s librarian; the resolutions themselves and her notes on the documents are mounted on the facing pages (488). Compiler’s caption on page 488 calls this “a copy of her reply.” The typed “overwhwamed” is a fingered-key typo for “overwhelmed” — the typist (presumably Ellen herself, by then age 86) struck w-h-w instead of w-h-e; the carbon was kept as-is.