[Letter to] My Dear Friend
Contributors: Chapman, Maria Weston, 1806-1885, recipient; Collins, John A. (John Anderson), 1810-1879, recipient
Series: Maria Weston Chapman Correspondence (1835-1885)
Published: 1841
Place of publication: Haverhill, [Mass.]
Language: eng
Format: [manuscript]
Subjects: Correspondence; American Anti-Slavery Society; Abolitionists; Women abolitionists; Antislavery movements; History
Notes: Holograph, signed.

Written crosswise on the top of page one of this manuscript, there is a letter from John Anderson Collins to Maria Weston Chapman, dated Sept. 7, 1841. John A. Collins found Oliver Johnson's letter when he came to Haverhill from Abington. Collins writes: "Oliver's proposal strikes me favorably. I think it a capital suggestion." Collins has had a "beautiful meeting" and has hopes that "Brother [Charles?] Fitch" will yet do something for the cause. He mentions the towns where he is to lecture. Collins says that the "new organization is completely used up."

On pages one through four of this manuscript, there is a separate letter by Oliver Johnson to John Anderson Collins, dated Sept. 3, 1841, New York. Oliver Johnson has returned from a visit to two countries of Pennsylvania where he found a "revival of anti-slavery feeling,' and the abolitionists "almost unanimously in favor of Old Organization." This letter is mainly concerned with the proposal to hold the anniversary meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society at Philadelphia in December. The Executive Committee has instructed Oliver Johnson to correspond with friends in different parts of the country to ascertain their opinions. Oliver Johnson, favoring the plan, presents five reasons for his decision. The [Executive] Committee has requested Oliver Johnson to lecture and collect the funds in Ohio and Indiana, "particularly among the Quakers there."