March 20, 1899.My dear Miss Smith:
I am very much obliged to you for your note of the 18th.
I had intended to make some inquiries about Miss Sarah Shedd, my teacher, when I was at Mount Holyoke, but it slipped my mind. Sarah Shedd was her name, but I do not know the year during which she attended at South Hadley.
I send you a copy of an address which I had the honor of delivering at the dedication of the Shedd Free Library at Washington, N.H., her home. You will see the references to her more specifically made on pages 6, 7, and 8. Let me call your attention also to a little work which I have no doubt is in the library at Mount Holyoke, - if not, it should be, - entitled "Loom and Spindle," by Harriet H. Robinson, and published by Thos. Y. Crowell & Co. In the chapter entitled "Brief Biographies," etc., you will find a statement as to Sarah Shedd. (See page 186). This book ought to be read by all the young ladies in the Department of Political Economy, if not by the other students.
I shall be greatly delighted, if you find any references to Miss Shedd, to know the results of your investigation.
I am, sincerely yours,
Carroll D. WrightMiss Rebecca Smith
South Hadley, Mass.[Carroll Davidson Wright (1840-1909), American statistician, b. Dunbarton, N.H. His varied experience included a term (1872-73) in the Massachusetts senate. As U.S. commissioner of labor he organized the Bureau of Labor Statistics and stimulated objective research on labor problems. From 1902 until his death he was president of Clark College at Worcester, Mass. His books include The Industrial Evolution of the United States (1887) and Battles of Labor (1906).]