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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

U.S. First Lady - 1933-1945

Signatures, in two rare forms, “Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt),” on a 5” x 6 ½” linen letter-sheet, with the notation, “Albany, N.Y., Apr[il] 14, 1932,” in another hand beneath.

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.