A letter believed to have been written in 1910 by the legendary blues singer Bessie Smith wanting to know more about the Humane Educational Society is among hundreds of documents being reviewed by a national historian.
A couple of years ago staff members of the local Humane Educational Society found a room full of letters dating as far back as 1912.
Dr. Bernard Unti, senior policy adviser and historian for the Humane Society of the United States, visited Chattanooga today to review the historic records, which he says are part of a very rare collection.
“This is so uncommon,” he said while reading some of the correspondence addressed to Ethel Soper Hardy, who incorporated the Humane Educational Society in 1910. “This is probably one of half a dozen instances I’m aware of, of an organization of any size rediscovering their records in any usable condition.”
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.