Archive of Correspondence while a camper at Camp Bonnie Dune, Cape Cod, 1932-34
South Dennis, MA: 1932. Very Good. Item #48736
South Dennis, MA: 1932-1934. Small archive of letters by Benjamin Franklin Perkins Jr. (1922-2002) addressed to his parents spanning the three summers he spent at Camp Bonnie Dune, "The Nautical Camp for Boys." Collection is comprised of seven autograph letters in pencil and ink on Camp letterhead, six retaining the original mailing envelopes. The collection also includes the two-page mimeograph typescript memorandum addressed to parents from the Camp directors regarding the 1932 season. Old mail folds and some light soil, though the collection remains clean and mostly legible despite Perkins' juvenile scrawl. According to Perkins' draft card he eventually attended Williams College before serving as the Vice President of Wyatt Oil Co. Unsurprisingly, he was also a member of the Westerly Yacht Club.
Quite a sweet archive of letters by a very affectionate boy to his parents back in Granby, Massachusetts while away at summer camp in Cape Cod. Perkins describes activities like sailboat races, game nights, and excursions to the beach, punctuated with simple meals like "peanute [sic] and jam and milk, and crackers."
"Yesterday we went over to Eastham to see the whales on the beach. There were about 80 of them. There was a sailboat race, and one of them tip over [sic]." "Wednesday I was in a play. I took the part of the maid. Thursday there was a Mouette Cruise. On the cruise we went to Martha's Vinegard, and stayed the night." In one of his final, most mature letters, Perkins looks ahead to going home, where he hoped to build a sailboat. "The only parts...that I haven [sic] got are the sail, mast, and boom." This is accompanied by a drawing of the parts, in case his father doesn't know what these are. Each letter is sent off with a big heart filled with X's.
Accompanied by the Memorandum from the camp Directors Mr. and Mrs. Dwight L. Rogers, addressing issues like homesickness--"Children sometimes suffer from homesickness during the first few days of camp. It is a thoroughly normal experience so that you should not feel unduly concerned if you find traces of it in the letters you receive early in the season"; pocket money (four dollars should suffice); and food and candy: "Such presents of this nature as are sent to camp during the summer should be sent with the expectation that they will be distributed by the recipient to the camp as a whole at the discretion of the directors. Incidentally, a basket of fruit is much more suitable than a box of candy."
Price: $500.00