January 10, 1940
Dr. Charles B. Davenport,
Cold Spring Harbor,
Long Island, New York.
Dear Dr. Davenport:
For several years I have wanted to write you a letter of appreciation telling you how glad I am that I have been associated with you for these fifteen years. Somehow or other the opportunity for telling you never presented itself, but yesterday I had a chance to enumerate some of your fine qualities to Dr. Kidder while at a conference in New York. I was happy to tell him that I thought you were a noble character and that you had accomplished things which will always remain a monument in your honor. I said: "Aside from Dr. Davenport's many scientific contributions, he stands as a second Darwin in the field of biology. He has established three large institutions, a station for experimental evolution, the only one of its kind, a Eugenics Record Office, which has definitely furthered the scientific end of eugenics, and Dr. Davenport has been the guiding force of the Biological Laboratory for thirty years." Dr. Kidder seems interested in my eulogy of your accomplishments. Some day, before I am through with the Institution, I shall make a similar speech to our present president.
I admire your work and I admire your character. You have a marvelous capacity for finding out the good points of your associates and advertising only those. Best of all I am happy that you are my friend. Inez and I have often said that we feel that Dr. and Mrs. Davenport are our dearest friends in the Institution. Please accept these statements from me and know that I have wanted to express them for many years.
With continued best wishes for your future, I remain,
Sincerely yours friend,
Morris Steggerda
MS:RE
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