1886 INTIMATE TYPED LETTER SIGNED [TLS] BY FAMED JEWISH INTELLECTUAL, LECTURER, SOCIAL REFORMER AND RELIGIOUS LEADER TO HIS FRIEND NOTED LINCOLN PORTRAIT ARTIST DOUGLAS VOLK

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On offer is an original typed letter signed [TLS] dated The Society for Ethical Culture, NY, April 14, 1886, 1-1/2 pages by Felix Adler (1851-1933) Jewish rationalist intellectual, popular lecturer, religious leader and social reformer who founded the Ethical Culture movement. Although not mentioned by name this was written to Douglas Volk, the American artist noted for his famous portrait of Abraham Lincoln that was used for the postage stamp. Also of note this letter comes on the heels of Volk's founding of the Minneapolis School of Fine Art, Minnesota (now the Minneapolis College of Art and Design) and served as its director until 1893. Adler writes: "My Dear Friend: I must send you a few lines even if they be brief and printed in the stiff letters of the typewriter which you must excuse. I want to tell you simply how dear your kind words are to me and how I treasure and shall always treasure your precious friendship. I am glad to learn that your first days in Minneapolis have been spent in bright sunshine and I trust it may be a favorable augury for the near and distant future. You have indeed a great work before you and it must cheer and inspire you to feel that you are to plant your great and holy art in virgin and fruitful soil. I shall follow your progress with constant and undeviating sympathy, you may be sure, and I trust you will not fail to keep me informed even of every little thing that occurs in your life, of every little sign of progress and of every disappointment, for these too, of course, will not be wanting. With kindest and sincerest good-wishes from all of us to all of you, and especially to you your friend Felix Adler." BIO NOTES: At the age of twenty-four, Adler founded the New York Society for Ethical Culture in 1876. His sermon on May 15, 1876 is considered to be the date on which the religion he called Ethical Culture was established. His lectures before this society on Sundays in New York were well known and attended, and were routinely reported on in the New York Times. Adler's belief in deed rather than creed led his society to foster two innovative projects. In 1877 the NYSEC sponsored Visiting Nursing, where nurses, and doctors if necessary, visited the homebound sick in poor districts. This service was eventually incorporated into the New York City health system. A year later, in 1878, a Free Kindergarten was established as a tuition-free school for working people's children. It evolved over time into the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. In 1902 Adler was given the chair of political and social ethics at Columbia University, which he held until his death in 1933. VG.; German Language; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall; AMERICANA, ETHICS, ETHICAL STUDIES, EDUCATION, VOLK, LINCOLN, NURSING REFORM, JUDAICA, JEWISH STUDIES, MINNESOTA, RABBI, ART HISTORY, Hand Written, Personal, Americana, Memoir, Handwritten, autograph, autographs, signed, letters, document, documents, manuscript, manuscripts, writers, writer, author, Holograph, personal, Ephemera, antiquité, contrat, vélin, document, manuscrit, papier Antike, Brief, Pergament, Dokument, Manuskript, Papier oggetto d'antiquariato, atto, velina, documento, manoscritto, carta antigüedad, hecho, vitela, documento, manuscrito, Show more