While attending the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus last weekend, in addition to escaping the hotel to hit all three restaurants spotlighted by Adam Richman of Man v. Food, I also snuck away to visit the James Thurber house. I’m afraid I didn’t really feel Thurber’s presence there—I might as well have been visiting the O. Henry house that I toured during the 2008 Nebulas.

It was a certain house of a certain era, and while it was a very nice house, it seemed as if it could have been any house. (I felt differently when I toured homes belonging to Thomas Wolfe, Jack London, and Carl Sandburg. Those writers seemed to be looking over my shoulders.)

Oddly, the thing I enjoyed most about the visit was a framed letter I discovered in a small room being used as an office. It was from Milton Caniff, and I think, based on the date, that it was written as part of a fund-raising drive when the Thurber house was in need of restoration.

Anyway, for those who love Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon—or just Caniff’s familiar handwriting—check out the letter below.