African-American Contralto

One of the most celebrated singers of her time, Anderson was refused permission to perform at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1939, due to racial prejudice. In response, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her membership in the organization, and a concert was arranged for Easter Sunday, 1939, at the Lincoln Memorial. On January 7, 1955, Anderson became the first black person to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Document Signed, 6” x 9”, “Marian Anderson,” a four-page printed program for “her twelfth consecutive coast-to-coast tour of her native land,” presented by the Civic Music Association; signed diagonally across the text of the title page.

The program has general soiling and wear, along with several folds and light creases, and there is a break in the paper in the mid-left margin.

U.S. Postmaster General - 1861-64; Brother of Francis P. Blair, Jr.; Mayor of St. Louis – 1842-43; Counsel for Dred Scott before the U.S. Supreme Court

“…I have written to Col. Fremont by this mail & via Nicaragua at considerable length…”

Autograph Letter Signed, 2 ½ pages, on a folded 8” x 10” letter-sheet. Writing to his sister from San Francisco, Blair discusses his health and laboriously explains his difficulty in writing. He further mentions business matters with John C. Fremont, the noted western explorer whom the influential and politically connected Blair family had backed in the presidential election of 1856.

“San Francisco, Aug. 16, [18]59. My dear Sister, I have nothing to write & have written to Mary sending d[ra]fts. You will hear from her every thing I have to say but still I like to say a word or so to you all at Silver Spring where so large a part of my affections dwell. I have not been quite well & am not yet as well as I would like to be. But I really think it is home sickness as much as any thing else that ails me. I have had occasional symptoms lately of a return of the Panama fever but I have stopped them & am now [?] on matters very energetically. Don’t tell momma a word of this for the sound would for she…go mad about it. I wrote home because you would expect longer & fuller letters than I can write. I have written her tho at my usual length tho I found it hard work to find matter to fill my sheets to her…I am now in no mood to dwell here or on things here in any letters I want to get away. But I start [?] I get every thing fixed so I can leave [?] in good condition. Write me therefore just as if I were a fixture – tho the thought of such a prospect would slay me outright.

I have written to Col. Fremont by this mail & via Nicaragua at considerable length & about some matters of importance to him. You say that since writing I have had a conversation with J[?] who tells me he has a power of atty. & promised to bring it here to my office yesterday. But he did not. I seldom see him & don’t know where to hunt him. I suppose he will turn up in a few days again & if his [?] are sufficient. I will get him to act on them & get a contract with Palmer to set aside proceedings in case not approved by Fremont.

Our promising uncle James D. Blair has put around here from the Sandwich Islands whence he hails now. I have not seen him & shall not seek him. It is just as well to keep at a respectful distance from such fellows especially when they [word omitted] of him to you. Y[ou]rs Aff[ectionatel]y, M. Blair.

Ned [?] & his wife & the cooks [are] better than I have seen her in years very much improved & she has got that if nothing else by coming here. She sends love to you & mother.”

Overall condition is very good, with the usual folds and a few small stains.

Established by act of Congress near the conclusion of the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau aided former slaves in the South by arranging legal services, food and housing, education, health care, and employment. Union General Oliver O. Howard served as the first Chief Commissioner of the bureau, which operated from 1865 until disbanded by President Grant in 1872.

Letter Signed, on a 7 ¾” x 9 ¾” letter-sheet, imprinted War Department, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. This communication from Bureau Commissioner Oliver O. Howard, secretarially written and signed on the inside third page by the acting clerk, pertains to the return of property to one D.P. Sevick of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“Washington, July 10^th, 1867. D.P. Sevick, Esq., Chattanooga, Tennessee]. Sir, I am directed by Major Gen. Howard to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of July 4^th calling attention to previous papers, requesting return of your property in possession of the Bureau, and to inform you that the same has been referred to the Ass[istan]t Commissioner of Tennessee for consideration and action. The previous papers in the case were referred from this office April 20^th to the Ass[istan]t Commissioner of Tennessee with instructions to ‘settle the case if possible.’ Very Respectfully, Your Obedient servant, Isaac A. Dennis, Acting Chief Clerk.”

The letter has light soiling and wear, two horizontal folds, and several pinholes in the upper and left margins.

American Editor & Abolitionist

Three Weeks after the Assassination of President Lincoln – “…I hope for better times politically, but the sky is clouded…”

As founder of the New York Tribune, Greeley exerted great political power with the expression of his antislavery views. He was defeated in the 1872 presidential election, and died later in the same year.

Autograph Letter Signed, on imprinted 5” x 8” Office of The Tribune stationery, to “James Graham, Esq.,” regarding his appointment to an unspecified position.

In the month after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, conveys that he has recommended Graham to New York Governor Reuben Fenton, and sorrowfully notes the effect of the recent, abrupt death of the sixteenth president on the nation’s politics.

“New York, May 8, 1865. Friend Graham: Yours received. I have your letter, and have forwarded your application to Gov. Fenton, with a strong letter of my own, urging him to appoint you. I have no doubt he will. I trust you experienced no permanent injury from Vanderbilt’s drafts. I paid them both so soon as they reached me. I hope for better times politically, but the sky is clouded. I cannot see to the end, but have faith.  Yours, Horace Greeley.”

The letter is lightly and evenly toned, with two horizontal folds.

Signatures, of six nineteenth-century Massachusetts politicians and abolitionists, on small slips of paper.

Everett, Edward – U.S. Statesman & Orator (preceded Lincoln at Gettysburg)
Garrison, William Lloyd – Abolitionist Newspaper Publisher
Choate, Rufus – U.S. Congressman
Wendell Phillips – Abolitionist
Banks, Nathaniel P. – Civil War Union General
Wilson, Henry – Vice President under Grant (died in office)

Most are closely clipped, with old glue staining from past mounting.

Union Major General; Democratic U.S. Presidential Candidate - 1864

McClellan graduated second in the West Point class of 1846, served in the Mexican War and, at the outbreak of the Civil War, was appointed major general. In August 1861, after the Federal disaster at First Manassas, he assumed command of the Army of the Potomac. From this point forward, McClellan’s organizational ability was offset by his hesitance in pursuing the enemy, causing Lincoln to permanently relieve him in November 1862, after the battle of Antietam. He ran unsuccessfully against Lincoln as the Democratic Presidential candidate in the election of 1864.

After the Failed Assault of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Infantry - McClellan Gives Advice for Taking Fort Wagner

Civil War-Date Autograph Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages, on the first and third leaves of an 8” x 10” letter-sheet, to “Col[onel] H.L. Abbott.” Just ten months after his dismissal from command of the Army of the Potomac by President Lincoln, McClellan advises Colonel Henry Larcom Abbot, later brevetted brigadier general, in the best means for taking Fort Wagner. It is somewhat curious, yet perhaps inevitable, that Abbot is seeking McClellan’s counsel, in light of his being relieved of command the previous year.

“Orange, New Jersey, Sept[ember] 5, 1863. My dear Col., Your kind letter of the 21^st, with its enclosures, has arrived. I have read the experiments with much interest, & would be glad to have the result of any similar ones you may make. I am inclined to think that an elaborate system of experiments upon the breaching of thick parapets of sand & earth would be of interest just now – altho’ I expect [Fort] Wagner and its companions will have to be taken in some such way as the [?] was viz: drive the garrison into their bombproofs by mortar firing, & then march into the work before they can get out of their shelters. Gil[l]more will have to use more mortars before he gets through. Please thank Col. White for remembering my request. Give my kindest regards to all my friends in the Reg[imen]t. Mrs. McC[lellan] desires to write in this request, as she regards herself as having peculiar claims on your Reg[imen]t. With my thanks for the update, I am ever your friend, Geo. B. McClellan.”

Less than two miles from Fort Sumter, Fort Wagner was the South’s principal land defense of Morris Island, South Carolina, guarding the southern approach to the harbor of Charleston. On July 18, 1863, just six weeks before this letter was written, the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, famously composed of black troops, led a frontal assault on the fortification, losing the regiment’s organizer, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, along with twenty-five percent of its number, in the attack. Fort Wagner was never taken by force; after the disastrous assault of July 18, a formal siege began. A subsequent assault, ordered for September 7, proved unnecessary, as the fort and all other Confederate works on Morris Island had been abandoned the night before.

There is light, even toning, and the text of the letter is unaffected by a few small holes and clean paper separation at the edges of the usual folds.

Union Brigadier General – Massachusetts; Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for Gallantry in the Defense of Harpers Ferry, Virginia

An 1849 West Point graduate and veteran of the Seminole War, Saxton was commanding an artillery detachment at the St. Louis arsenal when the Civil War began. He assisted General Nathaniel Lyon in dispersing the pro-southern Missouri State Guard at Camp Jackson and subsequently became Lyon’s chief quartermaster. After being transferred east, Saxton commanded the defenses of Harpers Ferry in May and June of 1862, an action for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. His primary function for the remainder of the war was the enlistment and organization of former slaves into the Federal Army. Upon the termination of hostilities, Saxton became an assistant commander in a division of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Autograph Quotation Signed, from late life on a light 2 ½” x 4” card, expressing a sentiment of racial equality and harmony.

“Washington, D.C., March 8^th 1907. The different races of men are intensely human. Rufus Saxton, Brigadier General, Brevet Major General U.S.A.”

The card is lightly and evenly toned, and there are a few old mounting remnants on the reverse.

Union Brigadier General – Massachusetts; Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for Gallantry in the Defense of Harpers Ferry, Virginia

An 1849 West Point graduate and veteran of the Seminole War, Saxton was commanding an artillery detachment at the St. Louis arsenal when the Civil War began. He assisted General Nathaniel Lyon in dispersing the pro-southern Missouri State Guard at Camp Jackson and subsequently became Lyon’s chief quartermaster.  After being transferred east, Saxton commanded the defenses of Harpers Ferry in May and June of 1862, an action for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. His primary function for the remainder of the war was the enlistment and organization of former slaves into the Federal Army. Upon the termination of hostilities, Saxton became an assistant commander in a division of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Civil War-Date Autograph Letter Signed, 8” x 10”. While serving as quartermaster on the Port Royal expedition, Saxton directs the delivery of hay and coal for the use of Union forces at Hilton Head, South Carolina. Docketing on the reverse dates this letter to December 19, 1861, shortly after Hilton Head was taken, establishing a base for future Union operations along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

“Capt[ain] [Herbert] Hascall. The bark Chas. Keen has 290 bales of hay on board for this Dept. She has also Coal for the Navy Dept. She has three days to unload for us & two for the Navy. The hay is on top. Will you please have the hay taken out…Yours, Rufus Saxton, Capt[ain] U.S.A., A[ssistant] Q[uarter] M[aster].”

The letter is lightly and evenly toned, with two horizontal folds and a few small stains. There is very slight loss of paper in the upper left corner.

American Abolitionist Writer – Authored “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

Signed Card, 2 ¼” x 4 ¼”, with date and sentiment from Stowe’s Hartford, Connecticut home.

“Jan[uar]y 22, 1885. Very Truly Yours, H.B. Stowe, 49 Forest St., Hartford, Conn.”

The card is lightly and evenly toned, with a few superficial stains.

American Poet & Abolitionist Newspaper Editor

A longtime associate of Henry Ward Beecher, Tilton filed charges against Beecher for “criminal intimacy” with his (Tilton’s) wife in 1874.

Signed Card, 2 ¼” x 3 ½”, “Truly yours, Theodore Tilton.”

The card is lightly toned and soiled and has a light diagonal crease in the lower left corner.

African-American Educator, Author & Political Leader

Letter Signed, on 6” x 9 ½” imprinted stationery of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. As school principal, Washington solicits a contribution to help pay the students’ tuition.

“Tuskegee, Ala[bama], Jan[uary] 17, 1901. Mrs. E.C. Hammer, B. Hotel Alexander, Boston, Mass[achusetts]. Dear Madam, I write thinking that you might like to take some interest in our work. Our students pay their own board partly in cash and partly in labor, but are wholly unable to pay their tuition in addition. Any sum, however small, will help us. The enclosed circular gives definite information. Yours truly, Booker T. Washington, Principal.”

The letter is lightly and evenly toned, with two horizontal folds and a few stains.