3 Handwritten Letters Living in Shanghai China Grace Doremus DuPont Co 1920s

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WELCOME TO SALLYS DIARIES: (The photo above showing the 1920's girl writing in the diary is just my logo and not part of this auction)Up for auction today are three handwritten letters that were written by Grace E. Doremus while in Shanghai China in the 1920's. She was married to Thomas E. Doremus who was in China for work as he worked for the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, commonly referred to as DuPont. It is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont. In the 20th century, DuPont developed many polymers such as Vespel, neoprene, nylon, Corian, Teflon, Mylar, Kevlar, Zemdrain, M5 fiber, Nomex, Tyvek, Sorona and Lycra. DuPont developed Freon (chlorofluorocarbons) for the refrigerant industry, and later more environmentally friendly refrigerants.Before I get to the letters I want to give you a little background on our author as it helps to understand just why she and her husband were in China . I found an article in the November-December 1922 Newsletter put out by the DuPont Company and it says, "T. E. Doremus has been appointed manager of the Seattle office of the du Pont Company, succeeding J. E. Hatt. For the past three years Mr. Doremus has been stationed at Shanghai China , as general eastern manager of E. I. DuPont de Nemours Export Company. His return to service in the Explosive Department of the parent corporation became effective November first."Grace was born on October 27 th , 1879 in North Adams Massachusetts . Her husband was born about 1874 in Schaghticoke New York . They had two daughters; Grace Q. and Carolyn R. The couple lived much of their married life working and living in Wilmington Delaware .As far as the receiver of the letters it is Pauline Makepeace or Mrs. Charles D. Makepeace in Mount Clair New Jersey . The 1910 census lists Charles as a Superintendent of a cranberry bog and the 1920 census shows him as a banker. I'm not sure how Grace and Pauline are related; sisters, friends, etc.There are 3 letters in all, 2 are partial letters and between the 3 there are a total of 20 handwritten pages. The first one is from the week of February 7 th to February 14 th , 1920 and this one is missing its last page. I believe the second letter is the one without a date as the first page is missing. I place it after this first letter because it almost sound like she just got to Shanghai describing a totally new experience and seeing it for the first time. Then the 3 rd letter is from August 27 th , 1921 which is a full letter. Again, 20 full pages of writing and two covers. They give incredible details of what life was like for this couple while living in Shanghai in the 1920's as you will see in the following excerpts.....LETTER # 1"February 7 th , 1920Dearest Pauline, I am not quite sure where I wrote you but I know it was on the steamer. I have done so much and seen so much since November that it is hard to know where to begin.We had a wonderful little trip in Japan . Ted of course met us at Yokohama and I can tell you it was a great reminisce. We went to Tokyo and to Kamakura to see the great bronze Buddha and then on to Kobe by rail. It took us all day to go from Yokohama to Kobe and we passed through the most quaint and interesting country. The little villages were fascinating. Most of the houses having thatched roofs and paper doors and windows. We went through miles of rice and tea fields. We stayed in Kobe for a few days and then sailed on a big French (?) boat for Shanghai . It took us about two days and a half to make the trip so you see we are not so very far from Japan . When we docked at Shanghai we found our own car waiting for us. Chinese Chauffeur and our No. 1 boy and No. 1 and No. 2 Coolies. You have a good imagination and you can guess how strange it seemed to me to be driven through native streets and thru fine business sections and out to the French Concessions where our house is....."(I want to stop here as I needed to look up the French Concess... read more

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