This signed letter is from early in Ty Cobb’s career. He wrote it from his Boston hotel when his Detroit Tigers were in town to face the hometown Red Sox. The keys to dating the letter are the hotel’s crest and the recipient of the letter. The Hotel Brunswick was a historic hotel situated on Boston’s Copley Square.
From 1879 to 1904 the proprietor was Barnes & Dunklee, which was owned by John W. Dunklee and Amos Barnes. Mr. Barnes nephew, Herbert H. Barnes, served as manager for many of those years. (The Granite Monthly, 1892, Vol. 14 Page 175). Amos Barnes become the sole proprietor of the hotel in 1904 succeeding Barnes & Dunklee, Herbert H. Barnes remained as manager. (Commercial and Financial New England Illustrated, 1906, page 318).
Here is the logo in 1903 for the Hotel Brunswick that had been in use with only slight variations for decades:
With Amos Barnes ascendancy in 1904 the hotel switched to a new logo which looked like this:
Amos Barnes, proprietor of the Hotel Brunswick passed away on May 30, 1906 as noted in the May 31st edition of the New York Times on Page 7. Herbert H. Barnes became the proprietor of the Hotel Brunswick upon his death. Herbert H. Barnes was the proprietor until his death in early 1915. (Electrical World, 1915, Volume 65, Page 1582, he owned an electric lighting plant as well as the Hotel Brunswick).
The stationary that Ty Cobb wrote the letter on was from the 1906 to 1915 time frame as shown by the logo:
The other key clue is the recipient of the letter, a Mr. E.L.B. Howard. Underneath his name is the word “City” which in that day and age meant the letter was for local delivery.
Mr. E.L.B. Howard shows up in Clark’s Boston Blue Book, which a social directory for the Boston area. In 1893-1894 Mr. Howard is listed 58 North Avenue in Cambridge. From 1895 to 1910 he is listed at 1653 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, which is just across the Charles River from Boston. Mr. Howard disappears from the listing in 1911 and thereafter. Here is a signature or perhaps a fragment of an envelope that shows him at that address:
It is extremely likely this E.L.B. Howard is the recipient of Cobb’s letter. Based on hotel proprietorship record and the Boston Blue Book, it is also extremely likely that the letter dated from sometime between 1906 and 1910. Indeed the August 16, 1908 Detroit Free Press, Page 11, noted that the Tigers had shifted their quarters to the Brunswick for this trip. 1908 would be my best guess as to when the letter was penned.
Here is a postcard of the hotel from Herbert H. Barnes time as proprietor, as listed:
The letter is also accompanied by a color proof painting depicting Cobb in 1908 by noted artist Graig Kreindler.
Here is a photo of the signature that was enclosed with the letter:
