LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2006 October Grand Format Autographs #629  / 

25592

Helen Keller Autograph Sentiment Signed

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:175.00 USD Estimated At:700.00 - 800.00 USD
Helen Keller Autograph Sentiment Signed
<B>Helen Keller Autograph Sentiment Signed: "<I>Helen Keller</B></I>" in pencil,</B></I> half-page, 12" x 9.25". In full: "<I>With endearing memories of North Oak USO/Helen Keller/February 15th, 1945</B></I>" also signed "<I>Polly Thomson</B></I>" in ink. Page was torn from a book, four torn loose-leaf holes at left. Light stains at right. Folded to fit in original 9.5" x 4" envelope, addressed by Thomson to "<I>Miss Ann Sewell/Miss Viola Mayer/U.S.O. North Oak/Mineral Wells,/Texas.</B></I>" Return address in upper left also in Thomson's hand: "<I>Helen Keller,/Westport, Conn.</B></I>" 3-cent "Win the War" stamp affixed, postmarked Westport, Conn., February 16, 1945. Envelope torn open at top. Also present is an 8" x 10" photograph picturing Helen Keller, Polly Thomson, and a group of servicemen. The insignia "U.S. Army Signal Corps/Camp Wolters" is visible in the lower left.<BR><BR>Camp Wolters was four miles east of Mineral Wells, Texas. The camp became an important infantry-replacement training center with a troop capacity that reached a peak of 24,973. Audie Murphy went through his basic training at Camp Wolters. From 1942-1945, during the time of Helen Keller's visit, a German Prisoner of War Camp with about 300 soldiers was located in the center of Camp Wolters. The North Oak U.S.O. Club mentioned by Keller was located in Mineral Wells. Polly Thomson had started working for Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan in 1914 as a secretary. After Sullivan died in 1936, Keller and Thomson moved to Westport, Connecticut, where Thomson died in 1960 and Keller died in 1968. Three items.
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