KUHN, LOEB & CO.
NEW YORK

<table><tr><td>ADDRESS</td></tr><tr><td>YOUR MAIL TO</td></tr><tr><td>STREET AND NUMBER</td></tr></table>

Carl Van Vechten, Esq.,

150 West 55th St.

New York.

William and Pine Streets
New York

KUHN, LOEB & CO.

June 19, 1925

Dear Mr. Van Vechten:

May I ask you to peruse the enclosed letter
which I have just received from Mrs. Paul Robeson.
After having read it, will you be good enough to call
me at the telephone at my office (Telephone number:
Hanover 9200), as I should greatly like to discuss the
subject with you and get your views.

I venture to trouble you with this matter, as
I know that you are much interested in Paul Robeson.

With kindest remembrances to you and Mrs. Van
Vechten, and hoping to have the pleasure of seeing you
both before long, I remain,

Carl Van Vechten, Esq.,
150 West 55th St.,
New York.

M

COPY

2 East 127th St.,
New York City.

My dear Mr. Kahn:

I telephoned your secretary for an appointment this morning, but he said you were so flooded with work, it would be better to write you than to try to see you. I'm so sorry because somehow I feel that I could tell you about this much more easily than I could write about it. However -

My husband, Paul Robeson, is at the brink of what we hope will prove to be a very remarkable career. If you could see your way clear to act as his patron and back him for two years, we would surely try to make you never regret it in any way - in fact, we would earnestly try to make you feel very proud to have helped him.

There are several people who know Paul Robeson very well, personally and professionally, who also know you, and I am sure they would be glad to tell you whether or not they feel he would be a good investment, in case you should consider helping us.

What we would ask of a patron would be a straight loan of $5,000. for a period of two years. The only security we can offer at present for such a loan is Mr. Robeson's future, which has crystallized to the following extent -

1. We have a contract with Sir Alfred Butt to appear in "Emperor Jones" in London on Sept. 1st for a run,

2. We have a contract with the James Pond Bureau for a tour on concerts all over the U.S., beginning Jan. 1, 1926, and ending March 26 at Aeolian Hall, when Paul Robeson will appear as soloist at the Annual Rutgers Concert.

3. We have a contract with the victor Talking Machine Co. to make six records a year for two years, on a royalty basis.

4. We have a one-third interest in a full length statue that Antonio Salemme, the sculptor, is at present making of Paul Robeson, and which promises to be a very fine work of art.

So it really looks as tho, with any sort of good luck at all, we could easily repay the loan at the end of two years.

Of course, all these things take time to materialize, and what we need is immediate help.

We want to accomplish the following things with the money:

1. We want to send Paul Robeson's partner, Lawrence Brown, south for the time we are in London, so he can collect new songs, compose new songs, and study negro music, so we will have our material all ready when we begin our concert tour. Mr. Brown also wants to publish and copyright all the songs he has already composed and arranged. That will all take about $1500.

2. We want to clear up our own debts, so that we will be free to leave for London and fill our contract there. These debts are widely scattered, most of them are very urgent and most embarrassing - and total about $1500.

3. We want to be able to live until August, and Paul Robeson wants to be able to study voice all he can. This will take about $500.

-2-

That will leave us about $1000 in reserve to take care of all emergencies, and we would then be able to jump in and work and do the most with our time without being constantly worried about money.

Engagements which are turning up from time to time can be filled to the best possible advantage, and the money we accumulate could go toward paying back the money advanced by our patron.

I am sure if you could hear Paul Robeson sing with Lawrence Brown, you would realize what enormous possibilities there are in their work which will be exclusively Negro Music. And further, if you could talk with both of these boys about their plans and their hopes, I am sure you would feel convinced that they are fine, honest, earnest, ambitious young artists, fully deserving of any help you might want to give them.

This could be arranged for you (hearing them sing and talking with them) any time that would be convenient to you, at the home of our mutual friend, Carl Van Vechten, or at any place you might designate.

I shall be glad to hear from you at any time.

Very sincerely yours,

(Signed) Eslanda Goode Robeson

(Mrs. Paul Robeson)

HANOVER 9200

OTTO H. KAHN
52 WILLIAM STREET
NEW YORK

March 19, 1929

My dear Van Vechten:

Many thanks! I should have been
delighted to come to your little party next
Thursday night, but, much to my regret and
disappointment, I shall be unable to do so, as
I must attend the premiere of "Fra Gheraldo"
at the Metropolitan Opera House that evening,
and immediately thereafter I am off, unwillingly
but unavoidably, to catch the midnight train for
Washington.

Carl Van Vechten, Esq.,
150 West 55th Street,
New York, N.Y.

C

HANOVER 9200

March 2, 1929

Dear Van Vechten:

I wonder whether you know anything
about the Harlem Little Art Theatre Guild (see enclosed
publicity statement) and, if so, whether, in your
opinion, it ought to be assisted.

I greatly enjoyed our Harlem invasion
under your sympathetic and authoritative guidance the
other evening. I am sorry I had to quit when I did,
but business, alas, has rights upon me which I may not
ignore. I had an appointment the next morning, or
rather, the same morning, at ten o'clock at my office,
for which I had to keep myself reasonably clear-minded.

Our English friends tell me that Étape
No. 4, which, unfortunately, I missed, was particularly
interesting.

With cordial regards to yourself and
Madame,

C-Enc.