March 2, 1945 Letter to Hope Bespalow

Title

March 2, 1945 Letter to Hope Bespalow

Subject

education; equality; marriage

Description

This is a PDF of a letter from the Special Collections section of the University of Memphis Library. Lieutenant Merrill Dan writes a letter to Hope Bespalow, who is a college student at the University of Wisconsin. They were both natives of Memphis, Tennessee. The letter is handwritten and written on March 2nd, 1945. The paper is written on white, see through paper in cursive. The issue of Hopes parents, specifically her mother, concern with her getting a higher education is brought up and Dan lets Hope know that he supports her in whatever she decides to do. Dan mentions how much he loves her and misses her multiple times throughout the letter, attributing an entire paragraph to it at one point. He also tells her that it is important to him that their future marriage be on equal ground. He refers to it as a 50-50 basis. He does not want one dominating the other and cares about her opinion on the matter. He also tells her about the purple ink that she was using in her previous letters.

Creator

Dan, Merrill

Source

Hope and Merrill Dan Papers Box 1, Folder 44, MSS 274

Publisher

The University of Memphis Libraries

Date

March 2, 1945

Rights

Digital Image © 2016, University of Memphis Libraries Preservation and Special Collections Department. All Rights Reserved.

Files

Image 4-24-16 at 7.42 PM.jpg

Collection

Citation

Dan, Merrill, “March 2, 1945 Letter to Hope Bespalow,” Making an Impact: The Lives of Tennessee Women, accessed March 29, 2024, https://umhist4851.omeka.net/items/show/132.