American Social Reformer & Feminist; Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize - 1931

Signature, inscribed, “To Harriet Hull, from Jane Addams, Hull House, Chicago,” on a light 3 ¼” x 5” card.

Slightly irregular toning along the left edge.

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.

First President – NationalAcademy of Sciences; Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey – 1843-67; A Founder of the Smithsonian Institute; Grandson of Benjamin Franklin

Signature, a free-frank on the 4” x 8 ¼” front portion of an imprinted envelope, “A.D. Bache,” as Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey; addressed in another hand, to “Doct[o]r Ch. F. Peters, Albany, New York.”

The panel bears general soiling and wear, along with several light wrinkles and creases, and it has been backed with fabric.

American Actor; Union Captain – 28^th Massachusetts Infantry; Friend of George Armstrong Custer

Large Presentation Signature, on a 4” x 6 ¼” album page, for the son or daughter of a friend in the year before the death of George Armstrong Custer, Barrett’s friend of the past decade, at the Little Big Horn.

“Your Father’s Friend, Lawrence Barrett, March 5^th 1875.”

American Civil War Nurse; Founder of the American Red Cross

Barton's work in providing medicine and supplies to the wounded on the Civil War front lines earned her the sobriquet "The Angel of the Battlefield.” She went on to found the American Red Cross.

Autograph Letter Signed, 4” x 6 ¼”, undated, responding to an autograph request.

“My dear Mrs. Perkins, I regret that your very small request has been obliged to wait so long for a response, but it affords me great pleasure to be able to comply even at this late date. I write you from my summer resort at 1000 Islands, - & am, Very Sincerely, Clara Barton.”

A fine example in excellent condition.

American Clergyman; Author of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

Autograph Letter Signed, four pages, on a folded 5” x 8” letter-sheet, imprinted “Hotel Kempton, Berkeley Street, Boston,” which Brooks has marked out. In this lengthy communication to Charles R. Codman, formerly the colonel of the 45^th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War, Brooks eloquently expresses condolences for the death of Codman’s young son in a manner which could easily function as a sermon on the subject.

“175 Marlborough Street, Boston, Oct[ober] 26, 1877. Dear Col. Codman, Your letter has this minute come, telling me of Charlie’s peaceful and painless death.  Notwithstanding all that I have know[n] of his condition, the news surprises me for I had feared for him years of sickness & pain. Surely nothing can make the other life seem so attractive & fruitful as just such a death as this. Where physical infirmity has been holding the person in prison & hampering their exercise, death seems to be, what we know it always is, a release, the breaking off of the physical tyranny and setting the soul free for its true life. Nobody can help feeling this thankfulness for Charlie, & rejoicing in the new life that has begun for him. Conscious as he has been of the infirmity that deprived him of the life which other boys were living, now he must be feeling with peculiar keenness the freedom & happiness of spiritual life, & must see also why it was that God led his short earthly life through such strange and painful ways, how he was bringing him to Himself & preparing him for heaven.

I know that all your thankfulness for what has come to Charlie does not make you feel the less his absence from your sight – nor make it easier to miss the privilege of caring for him. There was always something very [?] about his patience & the uncomplaining way in which he met his strange life. I was struck this summer with the quiet kindness & gentleness of his way. He did not seem unhappy, but rather often like one bewildered by inability to understand his life, to whom life may be still be very sweet. The thought that his affliction never brought him one pain which the most watchful care could avert must be a very happy thought for you now, & the thankfulness that you have had the privilege of caring for him so long must be completed by thankfulness that God has taken him to His own care, before he had begun to dread what might be before him in this world.

I have thought very much of you since I got home. I wish there were some hope that you could come back here, but these autumn days are so bad that I am glad you are not here. Thank God, we do not have the choosing of our places or our lives. Do give my love to Mrs. Codman & Manny & all the children. May God bless you always. Your friend, Phillips Brooks.”

The letter is lightly and evenly toned, with two horizontal folds, and is accompanied by the transmittal envelope, addressed by Brooks to Colonel Codman in London.

American Clergyman; Author of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

Autograph Letter Signed, three pages, on a monogrammed 4 ½” x 5 ¾” letter-sheet. Writing to the wife of Charles R. Codman, formerly the colonel of the 45^th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War, Brooks sends a gift of a book and invites the Codman family to visit.

“Boston, Sep[tember] 18, 1879. Dear Mrs. Codman, I venture to send you a little work of mine which is just out, not for the value that there is in the book, which I fear is not much, but only as a little sign of the true friendship which I have for you & all of yours. I have wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the few days at your house. I know you will be glad to know that I look back to them as the pleasantest bits of my summer. I hope you are all well, & I think it is quite time that you came here. Be sure that when you do you will be welcome. Pray give my best remembrance to Mr. Codman & to all the children & count me & let me count myself Ever Your Friend. Phillips Brooks”

The letter is in excellent condition, with a center horizontal fold, and is accompanied by the transmittal envelope, addressed by Brooks to Mrs. Codman in Cotuit, Massachusetts.

American Aviator & Polar Explorer; Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient; U.S. Navy Rear Admiral

Typed Letter Signed, 8 ½” x 11”, on the imprinted stationery of The National Economy League. As national chairman, Byrd thanks the recipient for his work on behalf of the organization during the Great Depression. Organized late in the presidential term of Herbert Hoover, The National Economy League was devoted to keeping government expenditures in check. As a political lobby, one of the organization’s most notable early battles was to reduce by almost half the one million dollar per year appropriation for veterans. Ironically, both Rear Admiral Byrd and General John J. Pershing, listed at this letter’s upper left as a member of the Advisory Council, had received $4500 and $19,880 respectively in pensions from the government.

“April First 1933. My dear Mr. Nichols:- I wish to express my deepest and sincerest appreciation of your work with the National Economy League.  I know it has meant a sacrifice on your part and I want you to feel that you have patriotically done vastly more than your share towards arousing an informed public opinion. I assure you that every thinking man and woman joins with me in wishing you success. Very sincerely, R.E. Byrd. Richard E. Byrd, National Chairman.”

Condition is excellent, with the usual folds. The letter is accompanied by the transmittal envelope, with the typewritten address, “Mr. Benjamin E. Nichols, 148 Main Street, Reading, Massachusetts.”

American Author

Double Signature, a desirable pairing of his given name and pseudonym, “S.L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’.),” on a 1 ¼” x 2 ¼” slip of paper; affixed to a larger portion of an album page.

There is a bit of light soiling, along with a few scattered stains.

Sister of Grover Cleveland

Autograph Letter Signed, on the imprinted 5” x 8” stationery of the Executive Mansion at Albany, New York.  During the final months of her unmarried brother's tenure as New York Governor, Rose Cleveland expresses their gratitude and good wishes upon the receipt of a gift from this letter’s recipient.

“5 January 1885. Dear Mr. Wood, Thanks for the kindness which prompted the sending of your package. I hope I may sometime have time to more appreciatively acknowledge all such remembrance. With kind regards from the Governor and myself to you and your mother. Yours, Rose Elizabeth Cleveland.”

Light, even toning, a small stain at lower center, and reinforcement of the folds on reverse detract very little.

Wife of 7^th Cavalry Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer; Author of Numerous Books on Her Husband and the American West

Mrs. Custer Asks for an Application to Join the Daughters of the American Revolution

Autograph Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages, on two separate 5” x 6 ½” sheets. Well into her eighties, Mrs. Custer writes to obtain an application to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.

“71 Park Avenue, N.Y., August 28 [1927]. Miss Blanche Edwards, My dear Miss Edwards, My cousin Mrs. Bingham has long wanted me to be a Daughter of the American Revolution and has been so good as to make it possible by searching records. I shall be glad to have the blanks for application when it is convenient for you to send them. Thanking you in advance I am very sincerely yours, Elizabeth B. Custer.”

Both sheets have a horizontal fold at the center and heavier toning along the edges. The accompanying transmittal envelope, 3 ½” x 5 ¼”, addressed by Mrs. Custer, to “Miss Blanche Edwards, Abiline, Kansas,” has general soiling and wear, along with a tear at the upper edge, near the August 29, 1927, Grand Central Station, New York postmark.

American Abolitionist, Author & Orator

Autograph Quotation Signed, on a 2 ¼” x 3 ½” card.

“The world belongs to those who take it. Truly Yours, Anna E. Dickinson, Sep[tember] 24, 1872.”

American Journalist, Lecturer & Actress

Autograph Quotation Signed, on a 1 ¾” x 3 ¾” card.

“The price of success is industry. Kate Field.”

The card is lightly and evenly toned, with a light stain at the signature, and there is old glue staining on the reverse.

American Journalist & Abolitionist; Founder of the Abolitionist Newspaper, “The Liberator”

Civil War-Date Autograph Quotation Signed, voicing the abolitionist sentiment for which Garrison was widely known, on a 2 ½” x 5” portion of an album page.

“Yours, for universal freedom, Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Boston, May 20, 1862.”

Garrison’s long-held, oft-stated dream of “immediate and complete emancipation of all slaves” was very soon advanced two-fold, as the bill abolishing slavery in the territories was signed into law on June 19 and, more significantly, President Lincoln read the first draft of his Emancipation Proclamation to the Cabinet on July 22, 1862.

Barely discernible damp-staining to the left one-third, along with a few small stains, detract very little.

American Journalist & Abolitionist; Founder of the Abolitionist Newspaper, “The Liberator”

Autograph Sentiment Signed, reflecting the spirit of reform on which Garrison had risen to national prominence, on a 2 ¼” x 4 ¾” slip of paper.

“Yours, to vindicate all human rights, Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Boston, Nov. 23, 1875.”

The paper is evenly toned, with light soiling and wear, and there is old glue staining on the reverse.

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, Greeley 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.

American Editor & Abolitionist

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.

A Recommendation for a Disabled Soldier in the Irish Brigade

Civil War-Date Autograph Letter Signed, on imprinted 5” x 8” Office of The Tribune stationery, to “Gen[eral] M.C. M[e]igs, Quartermaster U.S.A.” In this earnest and eloquent letter to U.S. Army Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, who established the military cemetery at Arlington later in the war, Greeley recommends a battle-disabled soldier in the 69^th New York, part of the Irish Brigade under General Thomas F. Meagher, for a position.

The letter is accompanied by a period carte-de-visite image of Greeley, with a C.D. Fredericks & Co. backmark. Both pieces bear general soiling and wear, the letter having the usual horizontal folds and a few small stains.

American Unitarian Clergyman; Author of “The Man Without a Country”

Autograph Quotation Signed, on a 2 ½” x 5” slip of paper.

“Nature gives us more than all She ever takes away.’   Edward E. Hale. April 17, 1871.”

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.

Signed Card, 2 ½” x 4 ¼”, “John Hay.”

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 Letter Signed, to Neil Yetwin, with exceptional content.

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

American Actor

Signature, “J. Jefferson,” on a 3 ½” X 4 ¾” slip of paper, the lower edge irregularly torn; affixed to a 4 ½” x 7 ½” album page. Beneath the mounted signature is the collector’s notation “Palm Beach, Fl[orid]a, March 1901,” where Jefferson died of pneumonia four years later.

American Poet

Signature, with sentiment, “Yours truly, Henry W. Longfellow,” on a 2” x 4 ½” slip of paper, with the notation, “From Cambridge, Mass[achusetts], Feb[ruary] 1868,” in another hand along the bottom edge.

Lightly and evenly toned, with show-through of old glue staining on the reverse.

Canadian-Born Journalist; Editor of the Chicago Tribune; Mayor of Chicago – 1871-73

As influential editor of the Chicago Tribune, Medill was instrumental in the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, and remained his staunch supporter throughout the Civil War. He served one term in office as mayor of Chicago, from 1871 to 1873.

Document Signed, Chicago, Illinois, June 25, 1873, “J. Medill,” as Chicago mayor, a partly printed 3 ¼” x 7 ½” check, payable to “Short & Brayton” for $44 and drawn on the Chicago Police Fund.

There are a few pinholes along the left edge, which has been trimmed slightly, along with several edge tears. The signature is unaffected by a punch cancellation at the center.

American Abolitionist & Reformer

Phillips fought slavery and advocated temperance and women’s rights.

Civil War-Date Autograph Note Signed, 4 ½” x 5”. In a spare, reflective moment as a Wednesday evening Abolitionist meeting in Boston is about to begin, Phillips pens a few evocative lines for an unnamed recipient.

“Boston, Jan[uar]y 22, [18]62. 20 minutes after 6 P.M. Snow falling. F.L.G. starting for the Festival. Wendell Phillips.”

The new year would soon bring good news to the Abolitionists, as slavery was abolished in the territories on June 19, and Lincoln read the first draft of his Emancipation Proclamation to the Cabinet on July 22, 1862. It is quite likely that the “F.L.G.” to whom Phillips refers is Helen Frances “Fanny” Garrison, the young daughter of Abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, already a prominent female voice in the movement.

Overall condition is excellent, with several horizontal folds and minor paper loss at the upper right corner.

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 Abolitionist Writer – Authored “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

Signed Gold-Edged Card, 2 ¾” x 3 ¾”, with date and sentiment from her Hartford, Connecticut home.

“Truly Yours, H.B. Stowe, 49 Forest St., Hartford, Conn., Jan[uar]y 26, 1885.”

The card is lightly and evenly toned, with surface loss along the upper and lower edges, presumably from past mounting, and there are old glue stains on the reverse.

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.

Bavarian-Born Political Cartoonist & Caricaturist

A dentist by vocation, Volck supported the Confederacy during the Civil War. He savaged President Lincoln and the Union cause in political cartoons, acted as a courier for Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and smuggled goods for the Confederate Army.

Autograph Document Signed, 4 ¼” x 7”, Baltimore, Maryland, April 26, 1878, “A.J. Volck,” a partly printed receipt for $37 on Volck’s Baltimore dental practice, received from a Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Neville; also fully accomplished by Volck, thus bearing a second signature in the heading.

The receipt is lightly and evenly toned, with light vertical folds.

Union Major General – Indiana; Governor of New Mexico Territory – 1878-81

Wallace served in the West at Ft. Donelson and Shiloh, was transferred east with Grant to encounter Jubal Early at Monocacy River in 1864, and was president of the court-martial which tried and condemned Andersonville Commandant Henry Wirz. He served as post-war Governor of the New Mexico Territory and U.S. Minister to Turkey. He is also remembered for writing Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

Signature, “Lew. Wallace,” on a 2” x 4 ¼” portion of an album page.

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.

African-American Educator, Author & Political Leader; First President of Tuskegee University

Signed Card, 2” x 3 ½”, from the institute Washington helped establish in 1881.

“Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama, Oct[ober] 30, 1908.”

A light ink smear above the “W” detracts very little, and there are old mounting remnants on the reverse.

Served in the Confederate Army under General Nathan Bedford Forrest; Democratic U.S. Congressman – Kentucky - 1876-77; American Journalist & Editor

Signed Card, 2 ½” x 4 ¼”, “Henry Watterson.”