Seton Village

Santa Fé, New Mexico

October 30, 1946

Mr. Stuart H. Patterson
P. O. Box 469
Pinehurst, N.C.

Dear Dude:

Your letter of October 21st, came just after
Chief passed away. Of course there is no point now in
your sending on your manuscript. I wish you had done so
sooner.

I am staying right on here working hard. It is
the only road to sanity.

My plan is to make a living memorial of the
place. I am trying at this moment to raise a ~thousand~
dollars for the building of a Natural Room in which we
will house Chief's three thousand bird and mammal skins
and his Natural History library.

After that I hope to build a similar room for
our Indian collection.

Some time we must have a gallery for his thousands
of paintings and drawings, and as soon as may be, we will
build what has been in our plan since long before we ever
lived here, that is, a Chapel which will be a shrine for
all creeds. In this Chapel we will house Chief's ashes.

Do not drop me off your list now; let me hear
from you, and tell Jackie that I would love to see her.

Mrs. Ernest Thompson Seton

JMS:js

Seton Village

Santa Fé, New Mexico

April 2, 1947

Mr. Stuart H. Patterson
Pinehurst, N.C.

Dear Dudie:

In reply to yours of March 23rd, I might suggest
as agent and ghost writer, Mr. Sidney K. Bennett,
3601 Hilboro Drive, Los Angeles 27, Calif. Of
course, I am not sure that he is free to take this
on at the moment, but it is worth trying. Unless he
thinks he can do it justice, he will not undertake it.

There is another possibility. I have on our staff here
a young writer who has done some very creditable things
himself. He is at present doing some of our publicity
work and helping me out in many ways along literary lines
with other people. I have just given him your manuscript
to read. When he finishes it, he will write you direct and
tell you whether he would like to do it as a re-write job.
He will also write you his financial proposition. That I
have nothing to do with.

I am at present without a secretary so am up to my ears
in correspondence and other desk work. By the first of May
I will have a good helper in this line, then will have
time to write you a long letter concerning the Foundation.

You did not mention Jackie in your last letter. I hope that
mwans that she is better. I wish you could both come out
for a visit this summer. I would so love to have you and
I believe you could have a good time here for a while.

You have been very good to us and we appreciate all your
kindly interest in our plans.

My very best wishes to you both.

Ever,

Seton Village

Santa Fé, New Mexico

May 9, 1947

Mr Stuart H Patterson
P O Box 469
Pinehurst, N C

Dear Dudie

I know you must be wondering how Larry Smith is getting on with your book. He has been working on it every single day since your letter came authorizing him to do the rewriting; in fact, he had done considerable work in the way of planning for it before that.

Last night he brought up a number of chapters and read them aloud to us. I really believe you are going to be very much pleased with what he is doing. He is keeping very strictly to your facts, but is building them up in the way that the modern reader demands.

He thinks that he will be able to pretty well finish it in a couple of weeks. He said that he was going to write you before that but I know he is staying so close to the writing of the book that I would not be surprised if his letter to you would be delayed. He is actually living it himself. I hope you will be as pleased as we are with it.

The reason I have not written you further about Seton Foundation is that building at this moment is so preposterously expensive that I feel I have no right to spend other people's money in that way. The contributions I have received are in a wholly separate bank account and I am not touching one cent of it. It will be held until such time as we can build to better advantage. I hope that time is not far off.

Would it not be possible for you and Jackie to come out here for a visit some time this summer? I would love to have you and I know you would be of the greatest help to me in my plans for the Foundation.

My kindest regards to you both, and with the hope of hearing from you I am,

July 28 1947

Mr Stuart H Patterson
Oyster Harbors Club
Oysterville Mass

Dear Dudie

Your letter of July 10th arrived while I was in the hospital with
my little Beulah who has undergone quite a serious operation. We
are now at home and undoubtedly she will get along well but it has
taken all my time and energy during the past few weeks.

I would very much like to have a long conference with you. I had
made no plan to come to New York this year but if that is the better
part of wisdom in regard to the Foundation, I will sacrifice other
things for that purpose. According to your dates, that would mean
that I would have to be there before the end of September. I would
come for only that purpose and would stay as short a time as possible.

Suppose I make tentative plans to arrive in New York about September
21st. Do you think that would give us enough time to consult with
your lawyer and other strategic persons before you had to leave?
Before making any more definite arrangement, I shall await your next
letter. Miss Pendleton, an old friend of Chief's and mine, who is at
present acting as my assistant, is enclosing a letter to you at my
suggestion, in which she has outlined certain ideas that have come to
her mind.

Meantime, I have a little over $500 in the Seton Foundation Fund. With
this money, I am going to start our natural history room. We need it
desperately in order to save our bird and animal skins. I have material
here which I have been gradually accumulating for the purpose up to the
value of about $1,000. With the $500 which is in the Fund's bank account,
I think we will come fairly near completing the essentials of this room,

I am so glad to know that Jackie is better, and I will be so glad to
see you both.

Won't you write me as soon as possible so that, if I am coming, I can
make my plans well in advance.

My kindest regards to you both.

Seton Village
SANTA FE, (NEW MEXICO)

Jan. 5, 1948

Mr. Stuart Patterson
Pinehurst, N.C.

Dear Dudie:

For months I have been planning to write you, but I have
been waiting until my plans jelled a little more. Still
I am not sure whether I shall come on to the East or not,
but will wait no longer to at least send you and Jackie my
best wishes for a very happy new year.

I wish you could see the start we have made toward our Seton
Foundation. We have our small natural history room in shape
that it can be used for study, although of course it is not
finished in final form. We are at work on our Indian Museum,
but I am going to have to stop that now until we assembly some
funds again.

This latter room will consist of three good-sized wings. I want
to name one of them for you. I thought we would be able to make
this available this spring, and may still in some measure. Could
you not make it possible to come out for a visit this summer some
time; I would love to put you up for a while and get the benefit
of your advice on many matters.

What would you think of our making it a stock company? I hate this
idea of asking for contributions; I am absolutely no good at that
kind of thing. But I truly believe that although no one will ever
become a millionaire through the Foundation, we can make a paying
thing of it pretty soon. I expect that this summer we will begin
to ask an admission fee from those who come to see what we have.
We are going to be able to make a pretty good showing by that time,
and after all people appreciate things in the proportion in which
they pay for them. Let me know what you think.

Have you succeeded in placing your book? I really think you have
something there worth preserving, and I hope you have been able to
convince some agent of that.

Beulah became ill about six weeks ago, and the doctors thought she
would be better away from the cold weather for a time. Therefore,
we are spending the next month or so here in California. My address
here is 2222 N. Commonwealth, Los Angeles 27, Calif.

My love to you both, and do drop me a line. I know how time slips
away, but I need your advice.

Seton Village
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

Feb. 17, 1948

Dear Dudie:

Yours of Feb. 3rd arrived in due time, but it was a time when I was away from the city for a brief lecture tour. I have not been well this year myself, so have done less lecturing than usual, but hope to get back into it with a vengeance next year.

As to the Foundation, you have no idea how I appreciate your interest and advice. I have been hoping to get my Indian Museum at least partly built before drawing up my corporation, since I wish to have the biggest men on my board, and I felt that if I could show something of what I aim to do, I could get the more easily. For the present, I am afraid that I can do little more since I am at the end of the funds I had. I have a fine beginning, and no matter what happens, will go on in some form. When I get back home next month, I hope to do the incorporation at once.

At such time, do you think you could put me in touch with some men who might be interested in making worthwhile contributions to the cause? If necessary, I could come to New York, but at this time I hesitate in doing it since the money it would cost can go more profitably into further building.

Your idea of the Boy Scouts is one which I had from the beginning. Long ago, I wrote to James E. West (he was still the head) and had not even the courtesy of a reply. Since then, of course, he has gone out of the organization in an active way, and I would be glad to try Fretwell who has taken his place. He used to be very friendly to our Woodcraft work, and might take a different attitude than did West who always rather had it in for Chief.

The pilgrimage of the Boy Scouts to New Mexico which you mention was to the camp which Phillips (the petroleum magnate) gave to the Boy Scouts a few years ago. It is a tremendous proposition, and they send huge groups out there each summer.

********
I would certainly send your book to the Saturday Evening Post as material for a serial. They cannot do anything worse than reject it. No matter what happened with it, it would not prevent your publishing it in book form later. Simply retain all rights except the one magazine publication rights.

My kindest regards to you both, and if you think I should come East say so and I will somehow get there.

April 29, 1948

Dear Dudie:

It is a long time since I received yours of
February 24th, but at the time it came, I was in California,
and have been ill most of the winter. Now that I am back
home, I am considerably better but still not attending to
all the correspondence that I should.

For the present I am not going to incorporate the
Foundation; as a matter of fact, I could not right now even
if I wished. The matter of inheritance tax is not yet entirely
completed. We must still wait for the federal assessor to
approve the tax I paid.

Meantime I am going on in my small way to work
toward the ultimate aim. At the moment, I am having difficulty
finding adequate help both household and carpenterial. There
is so much building going on in Santa Fe that all available
workers have jobs at high wages, more than I can pay. However,
we have enough interest as it is to attract many visitors. It
is always surprising to me to hear from so many of them that
they have come to Santa Fe for nothing else than Seton Village.

I hope Jackie is entirely recovered from the illness
she suffered last year, and that you, yourself are very well.

I certainly wish we could get together more often.
I am planning to do much lecturing next season, starting out
from here about November 1st. I hope to come East first. Is
there any organization in Pinehurst that might sponsor my
lectures? I am adding a number of new things which I have never
given in just this way but which I have tried out and found
very successful.

JMS:js

July 23, 1948

Dear Dudie :

In going through some old accumulated mail, I
find a letter from you dated May 4th. I find no record of
having answered the letter although I feel quite sure that
the copy of TRAIL OF AN ARTIST NATURALIST which you ordered
went out at once. I am ashamed to have no more definite data
on this letter, especially since it contained a check for
$4.00 which was not deposited at that time.

The only thing I can say in exclamation is that I
have been having much more work to do than any one person can
adequately take care of. Some things inevitably go wrong; please
forgive me if there has been any inconvenience to you.

I am enclosing herewith one of my lecture circulars,
but Beulah will not be appearing with me next season. She is
going away to school in Southern California in September.

My fees are as follows: $150 for one lecture; $200 for two on the same day in the same or neighboring town; $250 for three. If we should get enough in your territory, we could make a reduction on those.

If you can send me any possible contacts for lectures,
I will be very grateful. I would probably be in your territory
in late November.

I hope both you and Jackie are well and enjoying life.
Whether I get any lectures through you or not, I hope things
will work out in such a way that I will be able to see you
some time through the winter.

JMS:js
encl.