Papers of Esther Machlin Laddon, 1920-1939

The bulk of the correspondence (1927-1939) in this collection consists of letters to Esther Machlin Laddon of Toronto from her friend, the anarchist Emma Goldman. There are approximately 58 letters, postcards, and telegrams to Laddon, and seven (two are typescript carbon copies.) to Laddon's children.

Approximately 35 letters are from Emma Goldman to others, including Mary Eleanor Fitzgerald (?), Arthur Leonard Ross, Evelyn Scott, and Stella Comyn; most are typescript carbon copies. Eight letters, all typescript carbon copies, are to Emma Goldman; the writers include Henry Alsberg, Maurice Browne, and Ben Laddon, son of Esther Machlin Laddon. There are four letters (typescript carbon copies) from others to others; authors include John Haynes Holmes and John Cowper Powys. During the years 1927-1939 Emma Goldman, having been deported from the United States in 1919, lived and traveled in Canada and Europe; in 1934 she was allowed to return to the United States for a ninety-day lecture tour. The letters in the collection were written from Montreal, Paris, Nice, St. Tropez, London, Chicago, Barcelona, Germany, Oslo, and on board ship.

The collection also includes two photographs (one a photocopy) of Emma Goldman, clippings, nine receipts for telegrams and from banks, and eight fliers and pamphlets, some with duplicates. None of the last are by Emma Goldman.

Nearly every letter is dated and it should be possible to establish dates for the others. The major problem will be matching enclosures with the letters that refer to them.