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Dyer (Henry Knight) and Joel Francis Talbot correspondence
0578
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Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Henry Knight Dyer and Joel Francis Talbot correspondence
Creator:
Dyer, Henry Knight (1847-1911)
Creator:
Talbot, Joel Francis (1850-1944)
Identifier/Call Number: 0578
Physical Description:
0.94 Linear Feet
1 box
Date: 1903
Abstract: The Henry Knight Dyer and Joel Francis Talbot correspondence consists of a bound book of letters written by Henry Knight Dyer
and Joel Francis Talbot to their wives, Caroline Price Dyer and Ella Talbot, during a 1903 trip to Cuba and the Bahamas. Henry
"Harry" Knight Dyer (1847-1911) and Joel Francis "Frank" Talbot were both executives at Dennison & Co., a paper novelties
and stationery company. At the time that these letters were written, Dyer was the president of the company and Talbot was
the vice president. In one of the first letters of the book, Dyer notes his and Talbot's plan to write alternating letters
to their wives by way of Mrs. Brennan in the Dennison offices. Mrs. Brennan transcribed each letter and then sent the typed
versions on to Caroline Price Dyer and Ella Talbot. The letters provide detailed accounts of Dyer and Talbot's experiences
in Havana, Nassau, and other locations. Many of the letters also include Dyer and Talbot's observations regarding the causes
and effects of the Spanish-American War, which had occurred five years before their trip in 1898.
Physical Description: 12 x 10" in contemporary black half-calf over marbled paper boards with manuscript title label on front cover. 25, 15, 24-32,
16-23 pp. (Some letters misbound and out of sequence). Approximately 18,500 words, mimeographed and mounted on [60 pp.] of
116 blank pp. Many of the pages have hand-written pencil annotations or indications to which wife the letters were sent.
Edgewear, rubbing, scuffing, shaken, old tape repair to tear at gutter margin back cover, interior toning to the writing paper
leaves, but mimeographed still mostly unaffected.
Language of Material:
English
.
Container: 1
Henry "Harry" Knight Dyer (1847-1911) grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Dyer attended public schools and began working as an
errand boy for Dennison & Co. in 1859, eventually rising to be president of the company until 1904, and then organized the
Home Trust Company in New York. Joel Francis "Frank" Talbot (1850-1944), who had begun as a tag cutter at the Dennison factory
in 1867, worked for the firm in Chicago, and later manager in St. Louis, before rising to vice president in 1896. Talbot later
served as president of the company from 1906 to 1909.
The Henry Knight Dyer and Joel Francis Talbot correspondence consists of a bound book of letters written by Henry Knight Dyer
and Joel Francis Talbot to their wives, Caroline Price Dyer and Ella Talbot, during a 1903 trip to Cuba and the Bahamas. Henry
"Harry" Knight Dyer (1847-1911) and Joel Francis "Frank" Talbot were both executives at Dennison & Co., a paper novelties
and stationery company. At the time that these letters were written, Dyer was the president of the company and Talbot was
the vice president. In one of the first letters of the book, Dyer notes his and Talbot's plan to write alternating letters
to their wives by way of Mrs. Brennan in the Dennison offices. Mrs. Brennan transcribed each letter and then sent the typed
versions on to Caroline Price Dyer and Ella Talbot.
Dyer and Talbot sailed from New York on January 17, 1903 onboard the SS Mexico, which at the time was flagged by the New York
& Cuba Mail Steamship Co. (Ward Line). Harry and Frank spend their time shipboard smoking, playing cards (Harry failing in
teaching Frank how to play cribbage), walking their daily mile (18 times around the deck), and watching the distant lighthouses.
Frank's first thoughts on reaching Havana touch on the Spanish-American War: that the wreck of "The Maine" offers, "a sad
reminder of the terrible calamity that sent hundreds of our brave soldiers to speedy death and stalled the world. There is,
I find, a variety of opinions at this late date, as to the cause of the disaster, but all agree the event ... gave to Cuba
her freedom."
Upon arriving in Havana, at their decidedly dungeon like hotel, they spend time sightseeing, meeting contacts, drinking what
they called a "Pine-apple Squash" and attempting to sleep on a thin blanket stretched over a spring and iron bedstead listening
to the "monotonous buzz of the American 'skeeter' banished all hope of a sound sleep." A relative and client named Hibbard
maintains a comfortable home in Havana with traditional iron grated windows, formidable door, and a refrigerator, and from
a decidedly North American Imperialist sensibility writes that the sanitation, parks, electric trolleys, and banning of smoking
on trolleys were all rules instituted by General Wood, and continued by President Palma after his election in 1902. He notes
that due to Wood's "rules and actions he has made an impression on these 'dagoes' that is bearing fruit, and when we are ready
to take the Island [Cuba] it will be worth something."
Dyer also observes that "everywhere are well cultivated gardens, run by Chinamen," and, later in the trip after visiting the
botanical gardens, they "passed many Chinamen with two large baskets ... bearing their vegetables to market. This individual
seems to be as industrious here as in our own country." Although little known, the Chinese Cubans, or "Chinos Cubanos" were
a significant population in Cuba in the 19th century, topping out at over 100,000, and avid supporters of Cuban independence.
Many of the "Chinos Cubanos" had been brought as indentured slaves under contracts following the Spanish-American War. Although
promised return passage to China, most never received passage, and after their independence would open businesses, fruit and
vegetable stands, laundromats, and cafeterias, marrying local women, and assimilating into Cuban culture.
Dyer writes about a mirror in their hotel surviving the Spanish-American War with a bullet hole, detailing that on "the night
before the Spanish evacuated the City [Havana], the Cubans were allowed to enter the City and a few found their way to the
hotel. Their success made them inclined to be a little fresh and they began calling the Spaniards names, when firing began
and seven Cubans were killed. The hole in the glass was made by a bullet which killed a Cuban general ... one thousand dollars
were offered the proprietor of the hotel for the mirror ... but same was refused."
Dyer and Talbot also describe the roads as the worst they have ever traveled: "mud to the hubs, holes, hills, rocks, everything
that could make a road bad" while traveling to inspect a sugar plantation producing 400,000 lbs. every 24 hours "and there
did not seem to be over 100 hands around, all cheap darkies at 20 to 25 cents per day, with only one garment on." On their
visit to the Opera House, Dyer felt it was a "dull work" but he never saw a more handsome house ... entirely white [interior]
... very large stage, but poor scenery" and the audience included "ladies in white, a few in bright reds, scarlets, and salmons,
all with jet black hair, bright eyes, and all less than 30 years old beautiful."
Talbot writes on January 26th about a tour of Morro Castle: "I can give no account of Morro that would convey in the least
the truth of this dismal old fort. You can as you pass along the parapets by the dungeons across the moats, imagine the story
of cruelty and torturous death, these weather-beaten walls could tell. While in Cuba they visit a cigar factory turning out
22,500 cigars a day, a Jai-Alai game where Frank is very impressed by the betting raging around the matches, and even managed
to squeeze in a sales call on M. Carranza where Harry writes to Mrs. Dyer that "Frank was talking to one of [the] pretty salesgirls
who had gone to live in Key West to learn the language ... she was Carranza's chief saleswoman. Frank wanted to be taught
Spanish; she was willing if he would stay long enough (Thank the Lord our trip is planned and we leave her Monday, or our
profits on Chicago would suffer)." Dyer expresses considerable biases against Black Cubans. For example, writing about an
orchestra at the Alhambra Theatre, Dyer writes that it was a pleasure to watch a [racial slur] play an odd instrument "shaped
like a horn of plenty about the size of a French Horn ... played in connection with the kettle drums, and has a weird, and
not unmusical effect."
While steaming to the Bahamas, the SS Yucatan stops in Santiago de Cuba to load more cargo, and Harry and Frank tour the city
in fine condition, with clean asphalt streets built by the U.S. Army. Dyer details a visit to San Juan Hill, and notes that
during the battle "a colored regiment marching up retreated to the West and up the San Juan, drove the Spaniards back, and
saved Roosevelt's regiment and the day. When the Hill was carried, the Spaniards were driven back into the valley, were covered
by our soldiers on the Hill and surrounded by the colored troops, saw that the jig was up, so surrendered." The Battle of
San Juan Hill was called the most integrated battle force of the 19th century, with Buffalo Soldiers of the 24th Infantry
and the 9th & 10th Cavalry fighting with the 1st Volunteer Cavalry. 26 people died that day, and Quarter Master Sergeant Edward
Baker, Jr. 10th Cavalry was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism.
Harry Dyer contracted a staph infection and boil on his back in Cuba, which incapacitated him after they reached Nassau. Frank
Talbot travels around the island, visiting restaurants, playing cards, and sightseeing. He writes about taking an excursion
boat with a glass viewing window to see the coral reefs off Nassau. The window revealed "seaweed in various colors, sponge
coral in a variety of forms, and color fished by the hundreds ... I had been at various places much interested in aquariums
that displayed the handiwork of man, but this one of nature's surpassed them all." Toward the end of their trip, Dyer and
Talbot received a cable sent from Charlie Dennison stating that labor troubles in the factory at Framingham, Massachusetts
demanded their return as soon as possible.
Advance notice required for access.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special
Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Buckingham Books, October 3, 2022.
[Box/folder no. or item name], Henry Knight Dyer and Joel Francis Talbot correspondence, Collection no. 0578, Boeckmann Center
for Iberian and Latin American Studies, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Bahamas -- Description and travel -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Cuba -- Description and travel -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Spanish-American War, 1898 -- Cuba -- Archival resources
Correspondence
Dennison Manufacturing Company -- Archives
Dyer, Henry Knight (1847-1911) -- Correspondence
Talbot, Joel Francis (1850-1944) -- Correspondence