On May 26, 1900, Paul Laurence Dunbar was in Washington, D. C., after spending the winter in Colorado. He had gone to the Rocky Mountains on the advice of doctors as treatment for tuberculosis. Paul was scheduled to present a reading for blind visitors at the Library of Congress, where he had been employed two years earlier.
Mr. Paul Laurence Dunbar has returned to the city after a pleasant tour of many months in the Rocky Mountains.
"City Paragraphs." The Colored American (Washington, D. C.). May 26, 1900. Page 16.
The program of the reading for the blind next week at the congressional library will be as follows: Monday, May 21, Mrs. A. J. Bidwell; Tuesday, May 22, Mrs. Nathan Sturges Jarvis; Wednesday, May 23, Mrs. C. C. Rogers, musicale; Thursday, May 24, Mrs. Montague Jacobs; Friday, May 25, Mrs. W. A. Jack; Saturday, May 26, Mr. Paul Laurence Dunbar.
"Entertainment for the Blind." The Washington Star (Washington, D. C.). May 19, 1900.
Paul's wife Alice and mother Matilda had been with him in Colorado, but then Matilda went to Chicago to stay with her son Robert Murphy and his family. Paul sent her occasional updates after he and Alice got back to Washington.
All well and safe will write.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Matilda Dunbar, May 17, 1900. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 2).
Alice is well, though the heat tired her out at first. It is very cool here today and we are expecting rain. There is not much news to tell. Mrs. Arnold's baby is not yet born, and I saw Lewis Douglass yesterday and he simply threw up his arms when he heard you were not here, wants me to dinner on next Sunday. I shall go over and see Aunt Amelia, anyhow. Keep me posted about yourself and I will write as often as I can both here and at Brodhead.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Matilda Dunbar, May 18, 1900. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 2).
Lewis and Amelia Douglass were neighbors of the Dunbars in Washington; Lewis was a son of Frederick Douglass. Paul spent only a few weeks in Washington before retreating to a town called Brodhead's Bridge in the Catskill Mountains of New York, following a doctor's advice that mountain air would be better for his health.
Arrived safe and am high up in the hills.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Matilda Dunbar, June 26, 1900. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 2).