Extract from Ellen W. Randolph Coolidge to Henry S. Randall

Some of his innovations, his theoretical novelties, so absurd in practice were mere anticipations of other men’s ideas. He built a light open carriage after a plan of his own with leather tops which closed at will, and he used it for all purposes of driving & travelling. This carriage was something new and was smiled at by his friends and sneered at by his enemies. Within the last ten years I have seen abroad & in this country, carriages built not exactly but very much on the same plan and well liked by those who used them.

Tr in Letterbook (ViU: Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge Correspondence).
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Date
February 22, 1856
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