280
●
CARVER, GEORGE WASHINGTON.
Archive of 97 Letters Signed, “G.W.
Carver,” to his friend Mrs. Sophie Liston, including 73 ALsS and 24 TLsS,
on
various topics including argicultural lecture tours, racism, conditions during the Great
Depression, Tuskegee Institute life, Christian Science Church, national government policy,
polio treatments, massage and oil therapy, painting, and gardening. Mostly 4to, most on
“Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute” stationery; generally good condition. Most
with original envelope.
SHOULD BE EXAMINED
.
Vp, 1925-37
[80,000/120,000]
Sophie Liston first met George Washington Carver in his first year at Simpson College in Indianola,
Iowa. Carver had enrolled there to continue his education, particularly in the area of art. Sophie
Liston, a local white woman was one of a few townspeople who befriended Carver, providing him with
small jobs to earn some money, clothing and even helped him furnish the modest shanty where he
lived. The two formed an immediate bond, and a friendship, based on religious faith and a mutual
love of art that would last for many years. Sophie and her family eventually moved to California, but
their friendship continued through letter-writing. We present a wonderful collection of letters through
which Carver discusses his experiments with peanuts and peanut oil, among many subjects. Only a
couple of letters touch on race, though not as a focus. Carver’s own background is complex. Born into
slavery and raised by a white family, Carver is comfortable as a member of both races. Carver discusses
his work on the treatment of infantile paralysis at length, citing a problem he had with his knee and
massages with peanut oil. One can trace the progress of Carver’s career reflected in the letters, and the
topic of his celebrity often appears. He writes of the Russians inviting him to come to the Soviet
Union and a film documentary released to movie-houses nationwide. In addition to the letters, there is
a large painting (18 x 36 inches) by Carver of a cornstalk that unfortunately has not survived the
years as well as the letters, but it is no doubt restorable; and also a small floral watercolor (2 x 4-1.4
inches), no bigger than a large bookmark. 30 November 1925: “. . . This is one of the largest meet-
