A Traveler Measures American Civilization Against the Rebuilt White House

Richmond, Virginia: January 31, 181. Autograph letter signed, three pages, with integral address leaf directed to Miss Harriet Cary, care of Messrs. Josiah Bradlee & Co., Boston. Blue Richmond circular datestamp and manuscript “25” postal rate. 7 ¾ x 10 inches. An interesting letter written from Richmond following a visit.....

Black Musicians Take Center Stage in a Circus Sideshow Portrait

N.p. c. 1927. Halftone-printed promotional card, 5 ¾ × 9 ½ inches. Printed caption and Century Photographers credit within the image; blank verso. An appealing promotional card reproducing Edward J. Kelty’s 1927 group portrait of the Christy Brothers Circus sideshow company, with its African American musicians and dancers prominently represented.....

A Revolutionary Officer Asks Calhoun Where His Pension Has Gone

Newport, Rhode Island: August 11, 181. Manuscript letter, one page on a folded sheet, signed in Wilcox’s name by Thomas Williams as agent. 7 ¾ x 9 ¾ inches. An early appeal under the landmark pension act of March 18, 1818, the first federal legislation extending lifetime pensions to needy.....

Iron and Indemnity in Napoleonic Era Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden: July 19-28, 1825. One large folded commercial sheet, written on several panels, with integral address panel to Messrs. Brown & Ives, Providence, Rhode Island, endorsed “Pr. Brig Harvest,” with Newport “SHIP” marking. Headed “Triplicate.”. A commercial letter and account from the Stockholm mercantile house of Kantzow & Biel.....

Rhode Island Backs a Canal and a College Lottery in One Session

Providence, Rhode Island: February 9, 1796. Autograph letter signed “N. Searle Jr.,” two pages on a folded sheet, with integral address panel to the Hon. Benjamin Bourne, Representative in Congress, Philadelphia; Providence straightline and “FREE” handstamps. 7 ¾ x 9 ½. A contemporary report on the February session of the.....

A Former Governor Tries to Save Newport’s Relics from Resort Development

Newport, Rhode Island: September 12, 1844. Autograph letter signed, three pages on a folded sheet, with integral address panel to William D. Sohier, Esq., attorney at law, Boston, and Newport postal marking. 7 ½ x 9 ½ inches. A letter from former Rhode Island governor William Channing Gibbs concerning the.....

War, Duties, and Intercepted Mail Shape the Atlantic Cotton Trade

Lisbon: April 17, 1813. Autograph letter signed, 3 pp. on a folded sheet, with integral address panel to Messrs. Brown & Ives, Providence, Rhode Island, and Newport “SHIP” and circular datestamps. 8 x 9 ¾ inches. A commercial letter written from Lisbon during the War of 1812 by “P. Falconer,”.....

Young Judaea Gives a Brooklyn Woman a Place in Zionist Leadership

New York: Zionist Organization of America, October 17, 1918. Typed letter signed by Louis Lipsky, Secretary for Organization, on illustrated Zionist Organization of America letterhead. One page, 11 x 8 ½ inches. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, 6½ x 3½ inches, with postal markings and manuscript notations. A letter.....

California’s Political Elite Gather for a Private Minstrel Show

Sacramento, California: Sutter Club, [1929?]. Large typographic broadside, 35 x 12 inches, printed in black with several small illustrations. Blank verso. A large and striking broadside advertising a private minstrel and vaudeville performance at Sacramento’s Sutter Club, given in honor of California state officers and members of the legislature. The.....

A British Prison Reformer Presents His Case to a Future Chief Justice

[Manchester]: G. & A. Falkner, Printers, 1847. 107 pp., 8vo. Original printed brown wrappers, with front wrapper detached and substantially torn and chipped, but preserved. Some additional wear and soiling. Presentation inscription at the head of the title page reading “G. T. Bigelow Esq. / From the Author.”. An examination.....

American Reformers Organize the First International Congress on Crime and Punishment

New York: American Church Press Company, 1872. Two pamphlets in original printed wrappers, 6 x9 inches. Two contemporary publications documenting American preparations for the International Prison Congress held in London in July 1872. Organized principally through the efforts of American prison reformer Enoch C. Wines, the congress brought together representatives.....

A Pioneering Woman Historian Reconstructs the Road to Indian Removal

Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office, 1908. 8vo, cloth, 218 pp. (numbered 233–450). Separately issued extract from Volume I of the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1906. Presentation inscription on the front flyleaf reading “With the regards of the author,” apparently in Abel’s hand, but unsigned.....

Philadelphia Evangelicals Take Religion Door to Door Among the Urban Poor

Philadelphia: William F. Geddes, 1831. [2], 12, [2] pp. Stitched pamphlet measuring 4 ¼ x 7 inches. An early appeal for organized missionary work among Philadelphia’s urban poor, issued upon the establishment of the Philadelphia City Mission in March 1831. The organization brought together Christians from several evangelical denominations to.....