A vivid and fascinating letter capturing the lapse of law and order in Reconstruction Era Texas, where a deluge of immigration stymied political progress, accompanied by newspaper clippings with considerable manuscript commentary illuminating the lawlessness and pervasive crime in the Lone Star State. Kentucky-native William Alexander (1819–1882), former three-time...
![Bailey Family Lot of Georgia, Reconstruction Era.]. George W. Bailey, Samuel Terry Bailey](/pictures/thumb/4604_1.jpg?v=1546375530)
A lot of Reconstruction era letters relating to Macon, Georgia resident Samuel Terry Bailey and his son George during a period of economic hardship for Southerners. The bulk of this lot consists of Reconstruction era letters written by Col. Samuel Terry Bailey (1796–1870) of Macon, Georgia to his son...
![An early Arkansas trader’s letter written during the Indian Removal period]. Jonas Bigelow](/pictures/thumb/5120_1.jpg?v=1547136897)
A substantive and important 7-page letter written by a trader and whiskey dealer operating in Fort Smith, Arkansas Territory, offering an intimate and detailed account of his activities in the region—chronicling his travels, business, and the broader scene in Arkansas. At Fort Smith, he contracts with the U. S. government.....
![Archive Relating to the Founding of the Town of Brewer, Maine]. Josiah Brewer, Joseph Sewell](/pictures/thumb/4192_1.jpg?v=1505167059)
A substantial archive of manuscript documents and letters, many of which relate to the early development of the town of Brewer, Maine and the role of Samuel B. Stone as “father of the town,” with letters concerning the administration and development of land in nearby Eddington, etc. The earliest.....
![A letter to arms manufacturer James T. Ames]. Calvin Brown](/pictures/thumb/4415_1.jpg?v=1522327188)
A firsthand account of the Mare Island Navy Yard, then under construction, where the U.S. Navy civil engineer Calvin Brown would design and build Drydock #1—considered both his masterwork and one of the most remarkable masonry structures in California and the broader U.S. The Mare Island Naval Shipyard.....
An interesting letter revealing some of the difficulties involved in the life of an itinerant artist in the first half of the nineteenth century, addressed to Abraham Bell & Son, a Quaker shipping firm located in New York City. Edouart, writing from Saratoga, is inquiring about his supply cases which...
An apparently unrecorded California pictorial lettersheet illustrated with a view of the mining town of Placerville, with an appealing presentation note on the verso addressed to a boy. Depicting more or less the entirety of this important gold rush town from an elevated vantage point, and feeling very much as...
A multifaceted letter illuminating medical aspects of the Civil War. Tazewell Howard, newly arrived assistant surgeon to George Paul Harrison’s training camp outside Savannah, Georgia, describes his new appointment and attempts to use his connections to secure a higher paying post. He reports a certain dissatisfaction with his lot.....
![Letter of a frontiersman in Wisconsin, with manuscript map.]. Linus Porter Kellogg](/pictures/thumb/5373_1.jpg?v=1555762665)
A lively letter evoking the Wisconsin frontier scene, including a detailed manuscript map based on personal observation and an account of an Indian raid scare. Born in West Meredith, New York, Linus Porter Kellogg (1833–1864) ventured to the mid-West, apparently in the late 1850s, and in 1864 joined the...
![Typed Letter Signed by Jackie Kennedy]. Jacqueline Kennedy](/pictures/thumb/4148_1.jpg?v=1522941165)
A letter from Jackie Kennedy composed shortly after her husband’s election thanking the president of the Shelburne Museum for a gift. In this letter typed on White House stationary, dated December 15, 1961, Jackie thanks J. Watson Webb, Jr., the president of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, for “the handsome.....
![Two California gold rush letters]. Peter Later](/pictures/thumb/2826_1.jpg?v=1514397862)
A pair of letters written during the winter and spring seasons in gold rush era California, commenting on the steep costs of living and relating various forms of labor the writer has undertaken for modest pay. These letters span a period of three months, January–March, 1857; each is addressed...
![The Making of an American. [With two autograph letters inserted]. Jacob A. Riis](/pictures/thumb/3904_1.jpg?v=1552056863)
The autobiography of social reformer Jacob Riis, along with two letters from Riis to influential Ellis Island immigration doctor Victor Safford. First published in 1901, this is a 1902 printing. Riis’s autobiography begins with his youth in Denmark (including his initially one-sided bond with his beloved wife Elizabeth), and his...
![Letter By The Notorious Murderer Robert Stroud, “The Birdman of Alcatraz.”]. Robert Stroud](/pictures/thumb/4920_1.jpg?v=1546013048)
A captivating letter by Robert Stroud—known as “the Birdman of Alcatraz”—to his friend Fred Daw, concerning Stroud’s research on canaries, his violent childhood, the forthcoming biopic on him, his projected multi-volume autobiography, his challenge to Darwin, and more. Imprisoned at Alcatraz, Robert Stroud (1890–1963) here writes to his long-time.....
![Letter of Invitation to Sam Houston]. John Willis](/pictures/thumb/2806_1.jpg?v=1512757349)
An intriguing letter to Sam Houston as a U.S. Senator, from a party of Virginia democrats, docketed by Houston. This is an ostensibly routine invitation to a July 28th and 29th 1848 mass meeting at the Orange Co., Virginia Court House, written by several prominent Virginia Democrats. Though the real...