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Impressive cloth-bound autograph album containing nearly 200 signed letters, notes, and responses addressed to Thomas D. Neelands, longtime President of the Canadian Club of New York. The folio-style book measures 9.75" x 12.5" x 2" and features a robust linen cover stamped with "Canadian Club of New York" and "Thos. D. Neelands." The interior features tipped-in letters-typed and handwritten on a wide range of letterhead, from The White House to private businesses, law firms, and publications. The collection spans from 1914 to 1919, capturing the peak years of World War I and U.S. engagement with Canadian and Allied affairs.
The scrapbook is highlighted by a TLS by Theodore Roosevelt on letterhead from The Metropolitan Magazine, January 16, 1917, in part: "I rarely read the New York Times, and did not know that it had misquoted me. I wish I could accept your invitation to dinner, but it is a simple impossibility. In the Metropolitan that is out in a fortnight hence, there is an article by me about Canada, and her share in the war."
Other especially notable signers include: William H. Taft, Elihu Root, Chauncey Depew, Henry Cabot Lodge, John D. Rockefeller Jr., George W. Goethals, Leonard Wood, George Dewey, Nelson Miles, Henry L. Stimson, Ernest Thompson Seton, Wilfred Grenfell, Thomas Lipton, John Galsworthy, Otis Skinner, Geraldine Farrar, Billie Burke, and Marie Dressler. The balance of the letters are signed by lesser political, military, and civic leaders; writers, journalists, and editors; actors and actresses; and fellow members of high society. In overall fine condition. This archive offers an unparalleled snapshot of American and Canadian elite society during World War I. Compiled by Thomas D. Neelands, the collection reflects the Canadian Club's prominence as a hub for diplomacy, cultural exchange, and wartime solidarity between the U.S. and Canada.
