U.S. First Lady – 1825-29

Autograph Letter Signed, 8” x 10”, with a seldom-seen second form of her signature, “Wife of John Quincy Adams,” added at the conclusion. Graciously writing to the wife of the politically connected Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, the former first lady sends an engraving for Mrs. Tayloe’s collection.

“Quincy [Massachusetts], 28th Oct[o]ber, 1842. Herewith I have the pleasure my Dear Madam to send you the promised engraving to be placed so flatteringly in your elegant Collection of Autographs, where I shall have the gratification of shining, at least through a reflected light, among the brilliant luminaries who so greatly adorn your Book. In the hope of soon meeting you and Mr. Tayloe in Washington; permit me to offer the sentiment of regard of Louisa Catherine Adams. Wife of John Quincy Adams.”

Although the engraving mentioned is no longer present, this letter is accompanied by a 3 ¼” x 6 ¼” address panel, also addressed by Mrs. Adams, to “Mrs. B.O. Tayloe, Washington.”

The letter has a few light water stains and small edge tears, detracting very little from excellent overall condition.

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.

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.

U.S. First Lady – 1886-89 & 1893-97

Signed Photograph, 4 ¼” x 6”, as First Lady, “M.W.J. – from - Frances F. Cleveland, 1894,” a cabinet photo imprinted Copyright by C.M. Bell on the lower edge of the image.

The image is unaffected by minor wear and chipping to the edges of the mount.

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.

First Lady of the Confederacy

DAVIS, VARINA ANNE (1864-1898)  Daughter of Jefferson & Varina Davis; Known as the “Daughter of the Confederacy”

Signed Album Page, 4” x 7”, “Varina Jefferson Davis.,” also signed and dated by the Davis’s daughter, Winnie, at their Mississippi home, “Varina Anne Davis, Beauvoir, Miss., Nov 5^th 1893,” with the collector’s biographical notations in the lower margin.

Overall condition is excellent, with light, even toning.

First Lady of the Confederacy

Autograph Letter Signed, 4 ½” x 7”, to “Danl. E. Soper, Esqr.,” marked “Personal.” Writing on “Beauvoir House” imprinted black-bordered mourning stationery, due to the death of her husband, Jefferson Davis, just two months earlier, the former Confederate First Lady responds to a request for the autographs of her family and refers the recipient to a New Orleans photographer for a picture of Mr. Davis.

“…Dear Sir, I thank you for the bookmarks sent & return you my autograph & the back of a letter addressed to me by my Husband. My Daughter is in Italy & consequently I cannot send her autograph. W.W. Washburne, Canal St., New Orleans will I am sure send you the best picture he has of Mr. Davis if you apply to him. Believe me Respectfully & truly yours, V. Jefferson Davis. Feb[ruary] 17^th 1890.”

A center horizontal fold and a few superficial stains detract very little from excellent overall condition.

First Lady of the Confederacy

“Mr. Davis is not writing any thing…He is not strong and both of us nil very much in a valetudinarian kind of old aged way truly depressing.”

Autograph Letter Signed, two pages, front and reverse of a 5” x 8” sheet, signed with her seldom-seen full name.

From her Mississippi home, Mrs. Davis thanks a friend, identified only as “Mr. Derby,” for his assistance during the illnesses of both an unnamed friend and her daughter Varina Anne “Winnie” Davis, known throughout the South as the “Daughter of the Confederacy,” due to her birth in the Confederate White House in Richmond during the Civil War. Particular gratitude is expressed for Mr. Derby’s help with Winnie’s literary pursuits, presumably relating to at least one of the books she would publish in the subsequent years, most notably An Irish Knight of the Seventeenth Century, The Veiled Doctor, and Foreign Education for American Girls. In an amusing, melancholy conclusion, Mrs. Davis laments her husband’s lack of literary possibilities, along with the couple’s declining health. Former Confederate President Jefferson Davis died the following year, on December 6, 1889.

“Beauvoir House, 18^th April, 1888. Dear Mr. Derby, I am disappointed over my poor friend’s MS, but know that you did your very best for me and her, for though uncertain sometimes of your success, I never am of your kind desire to serve your friends. Winnie is today is [sic] so unwell that she commissioned me to thank you very gratefully for the trouble you have taken in her behalf and as you decide the question of name as you and our dear old friends the Lovells think best. She does not feel able to read the proof. She will be in New York in the course of the summer and I hope will see you and them while there. Mr. Davis is not writing any thing but has had several literary propositions which have not been accepted. He is not strong and both of us nil very much in a valetudinarian kind of old aged way truly depressing.  With the hope that you and yours are all well I am my dear friend, Very truly yours, Varina Howell Davis.”

There are several areas of slightly heavier toning, along with the usual horizontal folds.

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.

U.S. First Lady - 1929-33

Signed White House Card, 2 ¾” x 4 ¼”, as First Lady, “Lou Henry Hoover.”

Overall condition is very good, both front and reverse, with light, even toning and an area or two of very minor soiling.

The card is sold with the transmittal envelope and a typed letter from Mrs. Hoover’s secretary, dated January 27, 1933, sending the autograph. Both pieces bear White House embossing and the typewritten address, “Mrs. J.G. McCreery, East Lawn Sanitarium, Northville, Michigan.”

Wife of Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson

Autograph Letter Signed, two pages, on individual 5” x 8” sheets, with social content to a recipient identified only as Mrs. Norcross. It is very likely that Mrs. Jackson was in California at this time to be near her daughter, Julia Jackson Christian, shortly before she gave birth to a daughter, also named Julia, on June 5, 1887.

“San Diego, California, March 21^st 1887. My dear Mrs. Norcross, Yours of the 13^th has just found me in California! as you will see from the heading of my letter. I am very sorry that we missed seeing you as you passed through Richmond, for it would have given both my daughter and myself sincere pleasure to meet you again. This is a changing and uncertain world. We had no idea one year ago that we would now be in this far off land, but Providence seemed to guide us here, and we find a most charming climate, and have been blest with good health. We hope our sojourn here may be only temporary, and that we may be permitted to return to Virginia in a few years at best. We will trust to be more fortunate in meeting you the next time you come south. With our kind regards and best wishes, I am Sincerely yours, M.A. Jackson. P.O. Box 312.”

Both sheets are lightly and evenly toned, with the usual horizontal folds.

U.S. First Lady - 1809-17

Autograph Quotation Signed, on the front leaf of a 5” x 8” letter-sheet.

“A Toast. ‘The Rights of man the Gift of God; The powers of government the Grant of the people.’ D.P. Madison. Washington, June 6^th 1842.”

The letter-sheet is lightly and evenly toned, with light soiling and wear. There are two horizontal folds and old glue staining in the upper margin.

U.S. First Lady - 1845-49

Signed Card, 2” x 3 ¾”, “Mrs. James K. Polk,” dated in another hand on reverse, “May 4, 1887.”

Lightly and evenly toned, with minor bleeding of ink at the “P” in the last name.

U.S. First Lady - 1933-1945

Typed Letter Signed, 6” x 7”, on Mrs. Roosevelt’s imprinted personal stationery.

“New York, January 6, 1950. My dear Mr. Hallman: I have received your letter and I appreciate your writing. I am glad to know of the celebration that was held in Mexico. With many thanks and best wishes, Very sincerely yours, Eleanor Roosevelt.”

Condition is excellent, with a horizontal fold at the center.

Wife of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman; Daughter of Thomas Ewing – Secretary of the Treasury – 1841; Secretary of the Interior – 1849-50

Mrs. Sherman Wants to Visit Her Husband at Vicksburg, during the Campaign to Take the City

Civil War-Date Autograph Letter Signed, two pages, front and reverse of a 5” x 8” sheet, to Union General Stephen A. Hurlbut. Writing from her Ohio home, Mrs. Sherman congratulates the chronically corrupt Hurlbut on his being able to remain in the Army, her well-connected father, Thomas Ewing, having used his political influence on Hurlbut’s behalf. She further encourages Hurlbut to write a memoir, and concludes by expressing a desire to visit her husband at the Union encampment opposite Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the Federal campaign to take the river city.

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“Lancaster, Ohio, March 16, 1863.

Maj[or] Gen[era]l Hurlbut.

Dear Sir,

On my return home from Cincinnati, on the 14th, I received your kind letter of the 8^th inst[ant]. Permit me to offer my sincere congratulations upon your triumph over those who tried to get you out of the Service. We saw with great regret the efforts that were made against you & are therefore the more rejoiced at your success. Father gave his influence and did what he could in your favor before he left Washington and he felt pretty confident that your enemies would be unsuccessful. Although you have not left the Service may we not hope for the memoir you promise? Anything from your pen would be racy & full of interest. Those who participated in the fights ought to have their turn to write about them. We have had fictions enough, but people have grown so fond of them the truth would not relish unless very well presented. Will you do me the favor to have your man Lancy or your man ‘Friday’ deliver the accompanying letter. Would you be shocked to see me come down soon? Could I get to Young’s Point?

Very truly your friend,

Ellen E. Sherman.”

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Overall condition is excellent, with light, even toning and the usual folds. There are three small, symmetrical holes at mid-right, apparently made while the letter was folded.

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

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