To the Editor:

As a member of the family that made "Hollanderizing" a household word from the 1940's, I cannot resist setting the record straight for the students of "Adelaide's Lament" in the revival of "Guys and Dolls."

A. Hollander & Sons, based in Newark and named for my great-grandfather Adolph, were the world's largest fur dressers and dyers, listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As Seymour Kass writes in "Why Adelaide Could Part With Her Mink" (letter, July 7), the Hollanders specialized in making cheap furs look expensive, especially mink-dyed muskrat. But was that Hollanderizing? Well, no.

Hollanderizing was a cleaning process for many types of furs. It involved sawdust and other agents to remove the grime that fur accumulated during a winter of wear. For many women, it was a spring ritual to take their coats to a furrier, who would send them to be Hollanderized.

Although Hollanderizing has gone the way of the Studebaker, it is nice to be a slightly mysterious footnote to Broadway history. This is gratifying to the present family members, notably my aunt Leslie Hollander of Asbury Park, N.J., who has a long memory. JANE HOLLANDER Long Branch, N.J., July 8, 1992