System Number: 00763
Date: [20/30 June 1900][1]
Author: JW
Place: [Paris]
Recipient: Miss Crosby[2]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler C264
Document Type: ALS/PD[3]
Dear Miss Crosby -
I am only too glad to do any thing that shall please a ladyyoung lady who writes such a beautiful letter - and is so fond and proud of her young soldier brother[4] -
I am not surprised at a Crosby distinguishinging himself in the field -
I remember one of the name[5] at West Point - and a handsomer fellow I never saw - with his short curly black hair and beautiful brown skin - a perfect type of the South -
He came from Louisiana and was killed in the war - as became a Crosby & a Southerner -
Very Sincerely
J McNeill Whistler
[butterfly signature]
[p. 2] THE STUDENTS OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART HAVE MUCH PLEASURE IN ANNOUNCING TO ART STUDENTS AND FRIENDS THAT THEIR ANNUAL CONVERSAZIONE[6] WILL BE HELD IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27TH, FROM 7 TO 11.30 O'CLOCK
ARTISTES.
MISS HILDA FOSTER.
MISS MURIEL FOSTER.
MR. GREGORY HAST.
MR. PURCELL JONES (VIOLONCELLO).
MR. KENNETH SAXTON SHIRLEY.
MR. A. GREENWOOD (VIOLIN).
MR. REGINALD REYNOLDS (PIANO).
THE CLIFFORD ESSEX PIERROT BANJO QUARTETTE.
THE BLUE HUNGARIAN BAND.
REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED IN THE COLLEGE.
THE ENCLOSED TICKETS ARE 2S. 6D. EACH. THE COMMITTEE REQUEST THAT THOSE TICKETS WHICH ARE NOT REQUIRED MAY BE RETURNED, IF POSSIBLE, ON OR BEFORE JUNE 27TH.
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [20/30 June 1900]
The card refers to Wednesday 27 June. The almanac gives possible dates as 1883, 1888, 1894 and 1900. The musicians listed make 1900 the only possible date (see below).
2. Miss Crosby
Miss Crosby, sister of a West Point cadet [more].
3. PD
This draft is written on the verso of a printed card for a Royal College of Art Conversazione. Clearly this had nothing to do with the letter.
4. brother
Possibly Herbert Ball Crosby (ca 1872-1936) who graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in the class of '93, on 12 June 1893.
5. one of the name
No Crosby was at West Point while JW was there (JW was in the class of '55). A lot of JW's contemporaries died in the civil war on both sides so it is impossible to guess to whom he is referring. One possibility is George Blake Cosby (ca 1831-1909) who was in the class of '52 and fought in the Confederate army, but he came from Kentucky and died in 1909.
6. Conversazione
It is not known if JW attended the conversazione; there was a varied musical programme involving such stars as Clifford Essex (1859 or 1863-1946), banjo maker and player; Reginald Reynolds (1877-1959), pianist; Muriel Foster (1877-1937), singer, and Herr Wilhelm Morgan's Blue Hungarian Band.