Harold G. Henderson

Harold G. Henderson (1889-1974) was a professor at Columbia University who helped popularize haiku in America. He was the author of An Introduction to Haiku (1958) among other books, president of the Japan Society, and a co-founder of the Haiku Society of America, as well as Nick Virgilio's most significant mentor. He served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the American Army, translating American propaganda into Japanese for leaflet distribution in the Pacific Theater, and was one of the ghost writers for Emperor Hirohito's Humanity Declaration during the post-WW2 Allied occupation of Japan. 

Below is the first letter written from Henderson to Virgilio in our archive. Henderson’s correspondence is all handwritten, and was at times difficult to transcribe.