Personal Secretary of Abraham Lincoln; U.S. Secretary of State - 1898-1905 – McKinley & Roosevelt Administrations

Hay became a friend of Lincoln while studying law in Springfield, Illinois and accompanied him to Washington to become one of his personal secretaries. After the war, Hay and Nicolay wrote their biography of Lincoln, and Hay served as Secretary of State under McKinley and Roosevelt from 1898 through 1905.

Autograph Letter Signed, two pages, on the first and third leaves of a 5 ¼” x 8” letter-sheet. Addressing former Union General Frederick Tracy Dent, brother-in-law and secretary of President Ulysses S. Grant, Hay seeks the help of the President in securing his brother’s advancement in the military.

“New York, August 31 [no year]. My Dear General Dent, Enclosed you will find the note to the President which you suggested I should write. My brother Lieutenant Leonard Hay is Adjutant of the 9^th Infantry. He likes the service and desires to remain in it. I know him to be a very efficient and valuable officer and if you can do anything to promote his wishes, I am sure it will be to the advantage of the service, and will lay me under great personal obligations. I am very faithfully yours, John Hay. P.S. My address will be for the present ‘Republican Office, Chicago’ where I am always at your disposition.”

Beneath Hay’s closing and signature, General Dent has written and initialed a biographical notation of Hay, in pencil, “Private Sec[retary] of President Lincoln and author of Jim Beldsoe & little breeches. F.T.D.”

The letter-sheet bears the usual light toning, and there is weakness and clean separation, with no loss of paper, at the edges of two horizontal folds. The text of the letter is unaffected by a three-quarter inch area of paper loss in the upper margin of the second page.

American Social Writer & Philosopher

Autograph Letters Signed (2), to Neil Yetwin. Transcribed below; further description will be posted shortly.

February 4, 1979

Dear Mr. Yetwin:

Many thanks for your letter. Unfortunately my failing eyesight prevents me from reading the faded print of your article. I shall have someone read it to me later.

There is a danger of an Anti-Semitic explosion in this country. There is no telling when it will come. The Negro vote can easily become anti-Jewish. Arab money can work mischief. If America’s present decline lands us into a real mess, many politicians will be tempted to blame the Jews for all our ills. Add the fact that over half of the adversary intellectuals who villify [sic] this country at every opportunity are Jewish and you can see that the present situation in America is not totally different from what things were in WeimarGermany in the late 1920s. The chief difference is that the Jews now have a place of refuge – Israel.

Warm regards,
Eric Hoffer

February 22, 1979

Dear Mr. Yetwin:

Were I a Jew I would not waste my time wondering what people think of the Jews. In America the Jews constitute 2.7% of the population yet they have produced our two foremost living writers, and they receive about half of the Nobel Prizes given to Americans. The Jews have given America one of its most outstanding secretaries of state, and more than any other ethnic minority are represented in Presidential cabinets. Jews are conspicuous on the faculties of our foremost universities and are outstanding in almost every scientific field. No one doubts that had Hitler left the Jews alone he would have won the war. Without exception, countries which persecute Jews come to a bad end. Finally, in Israel the Jews have produced brilliant generals and are teaching the world how to turn deserts into gardens. It should be obvious that what the world needs is more Jews.

As I said, I would not pay attention to what people say about Jews. But in the back of mind I would keep alive the awareness that the impulse to kill Jews is dormant everywhere.

Warm regards,
Eric Hoffer

American Actor

Autograph Letter Signed, four pages, on a “Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts” imprinted 5” x 6 ¼” letter-sheet, with the third and fourth pages written perpendicularly, thanking the recipient for a gift, and making tribute to the highly-reputed English actor, Edmund Kean.

“June 27^th 1901. My Dear Mrs. Kimball, I am charmed with the present you have made me. It is undoubtedly intended for Edmund Kean as Richard 3^rd and as you say he seems to exclaim ‘A Horse! A Horse! My Kingdom for a Horse.’ The only regret I have in receiving it is the fear that you have deprived yourself of a most valuable ornament. It is now before me on my writing table where I should keep it in view. About the year 1815 Edmund Kean was in the zenith of his fame and it is quite likely that this figure is one of his last having the crown mark. We all enjoyed your visit and only regret that it was so short. Mrs. Jefferson & Aunt Nells join me in wishing health and happiness to thee & thine. Faithfully Yours, J. Jefferson.”

Excellent condition, with a horizontal fold at center.

American Suffragette & Reformer; An Organizer of the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War

Signature, with closing, “Y[ou]rs truly, M.A. Livermore,” on a 1 ¾” x 3 ¾” slip of paper, removed from a letter.

Lightly and evenly toned, with old mounting remnants on the reverse.

American Poet

Civil War-Date Signature, with sentiment, “Yours truly, Henry W. Longfellow, Feb[ruary] 23, 1864,” on a 2” x 4” slip of paper; dated just four days before Longfellow’s fifty-seventh birthday.

The paper is lightly and evenly toned, with a vertical crease at the center.

American Sculptor

Signed Photograph, 7 ½” x 10”, “To Charles C. Curran – The War Horse in Art. H.A. MacNeil, S.C.” The photograph is of MacNeil’s sculpture to the Confederate Defenders of Charleston, South Carolina during the American Civil War, and was inscribed to noted American artist Charles C. Curran shortly before the dedication of the monument on October 20, 1932.

The reverse bears MacNeil’s further handwritten notation, “Study. Defensive Monument, Sumter Park, Charleston, S.C. H.A. MacNeil, S.C. 1931,” and the stamp, “The Capitol Photo Studios, 617 – 2^nd Avenue, College Point, L[ong] I[sland].”

There are a few small stains in the margins, and the reverse bears heavier glue staining from past mounting.

American Poet & Writer

Autograph Note Signed, on an evenly toned index card, 3” x 5”, with a second signature, “i.e. Marianne Craig Moore,” penned vertically in the left margin.

“November 14, 1952. A curious request but I accede. My signature for: Mr. Jerry Arnholt, Men’s Hall, Chadron State Teacher’s College, Chadron, Nebraska. Marianne Moore.”

Private Secretary of Abraham Lincoln

A prominent Illinois newspaper editor, Nicolay served as Lincoln’s private secretary from 1860 through the end of the Civil War. After the war, he served as U.S. consul in Paris and marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1890, he and John Hay published their ten-volume biography of Lincoln.

“…In the revision of our book, the suggestions you make will naturally come under consideration…”

Letter Signed, on the imprinted 5” x 8” stationery of the U.S. Supreme Court. During his tenure as marshal of the court, Nicolay thanks “S.P. Leeds, Esq., Hanover, N.H.” for information relating to the official biography of Abraham Lincoln, at the time a work in progress being co-authored with fellow Lincoln secretary John Hay. Released serially in Century Magazine from 1886 to 1890, Abraham Lincoln: A History was first published in book form in 1890.

“Deerfield, Mass., July 10^th 1887. My dear Sir: Accept our thanks for your kind letter of the 5^th, the answer to which has been delayed by my summer vacation trip. In the revision for our book, the suggestions you make will naturally come under consideration. We are of course gratified by the generous commendations you are pleased to bestow on our work. Yours truly, Jno. G. Nicolay.”

The letter is lightly and evenly toned, with two horizontal folds, and there is minor brushing of ink at the conclusion of Nicolay’s signature.

Private Secretary of Abraham Lincoln

A prominent Illinois newspaper editor, Nicolay served as Lincoln’s private secretary from 1860 through the end of the Civil War. After the war, he served as U.S. consul in Paris and marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1890, he and John Hay published their ten-volume biography of Lincoln.

Document Signed, 10” x 16”, as Marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court, “Jno. G. Nicolay, Marshal,” a manuscript statement of disbursements of the court for the first quarter of 1879, amounting to $11,321.40.

The document is in excellent condition, with tiny pinholes at the center intersections of the usual folds.

American Journalist & Politician; Founder of the The New York Times; Republican U.S. Congressman – New York – 1865-67

Signature, “H.J. Raymond,” on a 3” x 4” slip of yellow paper, with the signatures of influential newspapermen Samuel Sinclair, Robert Bonner, James Gordon Bennett, William White Harding, and S.P. Hanscom beneath.

There is general wear and soiling, along with two light folds.

American Journalist & Diplomat; Editor of the New York Tribune; Candidate for U.S. Vice President - 1892

Autograph Letter Signed, on an imprinted 5” x 8” memorandum sheet as editor of the New York Tribune, responding to a request from “Robt. A. McFadden, State Library, Harrisburg, Penn[sylvania].”

“New York, 21 Jany., 1881. Dear Sir: I have the pleasure in complying with the request in your courteous favor of the 20^th inst[ant], & I am Very Respectfully, Whitelaw Reid.”

Heavier toning in upper, right, and lower margins; two vertical folds; minor loss of paper in the upper corners.

American Social Reformer; Author, Lecturer & Early Suffrage Movement Leader

Signed Card, 2 ¼” x 3 ½”, “Elizabeth Cady Stanton.”

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.

American Suffragist, Educator & Temperance Reformer

Autograph Letter Signed, 8” x 11”, on the imprinted stationery of the World's Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, as president of the organization. Writing from a New Hampshire hotel on Independence Day of the final year of her life, Willard thanks a recipient identified only as Miss Ward for a get-well letter.

“July 4, 1897. Hotel Ponemah, Milford Springs, NH. My Dear Miss Ward: Certainly I will leave my poor dear little lives – so lonesomely composed, ‘sitting out’ in winter days watching the birdie, while I was wrapped in blankets and trying to get better. For a letter so kind and considerate from a woman of whom I think so much I would e[v]en let the little, lone-winged venture lag a life-time. Ever Yours for the Better Life, Frances E. Willard.”

The letter is lightly and evenly toned, and wrinkling of the lightweight paper at the center results in the partial obscuring of a few letters of text.