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This catalog of original documents relating to Black History features pieces of the highest rarity and merit for collection, research, and exhibition. They illustrate some of the most opressive as well as inspiring facets of American History. You will see Phillis Wheatley’s poetry, records of slave sales and slave uprisings, and documents related to the Underground Railroad, the abolitionist movement, and Civil Rights publications.
You will also find Charles Langston, recently imprisoned after a slave rescue, declaring “Liberty and humanity to me have no particular location, no Color, no Country.” John Brown plans “a mighty conquest.” Frederick Douglass writing that “the right to personal freedoom” is the most basic of all rights. Presidential opinions on slavery, Revolutionary and Civil War documents. Nearly a century later, Jackie Robinson discusses the “Negro vote,” and Alex Haley’s research archive and manuscript drafts for Roots and an as yet unpublished book help to inspire our nation.
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A Lieutenant in the 27th Ohio, United State Colored Troops, Records the Final Year of the Civil War
FREDERICK J. BARTLETT. [BLACK SOLDIERS],
Manuscript Document. Civil War Diary, Company C 27th Ohio Colored Infantry. Near Fort Fisher, North Carolina and Ohio, January – December, 1865. Leather cover. Approximately 100 pp., 53/5 x 3½ in. With a ledger of company expenses at the rear, in the same hand.
A rare, detailed account of an African-American regiment by one of its officers.
Item #22581, $4,800
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The American Colonization Society Petitions Congress to Create a Colony for Free Blacks
[AFRICAN AMERICAN],
Pamphlet. “Memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the American Society for the Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States,” Washington, D.C., January 14, 1817.
Item #22759, $375
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New Hampshire Ridicules South Carolina’s Attempts to Game the System After Rejecting the 14th Amendment
[AFRICAN AMERICAN],
Broadside. “Part of a Speech of the N. H. “Champion of Democracy” on the Negro Question,” no place, [New Hampshire], c. 1867. 1 p., 9½ x 13½ in.
Item #22840, $1,000
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The U.S. Senate Investigates Mississippi for Violation of the 15th Amendment
[AFRICAN AMERICAN],
Book. Mississippi in 1875. Report of the Select Committee to Inquire Into the Mississippi Election of 1875, With the Testimony and Documentary Evidence, Volume 1 [of 2]. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1876, 1020 pp. Signed on inside front cover by committee stenographer E.C. Bartlett.
Item #22839, $850
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Against Slavery in the 1820 New York Gubernatorial Election
[SLAVERY],
Broadside. “To the 40 Gentlemen Who have addressed the Independent federal Electors of the State of New-York.” 1 p., 11¼ x 13¾ in.
Item #22761, $2,000
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Mrs. Frederick Douglass Declines An Engagement On Behalf Of Her Husband
HELEN PITTS DOUGLASS,
(1838-1903) [wife of Frederick Douglass]. Autograph Letter Signed, to Mr. [James McCormick] Dalzell. Washington, D.C. September 8, 1884. 1 p.
Item #21678.06, $1,500
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Lincoln Shrewdly Plots to Stop the Spread of Slavery after the Infamous Dred Scott Case
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
Autograph Letter Signed (“A. Lincoln”) to Richard Yates, Springfield, Ill., March 9, 1858. 2 pp. 8 x 10”.
A politically re-energized Lincoln shrewdly plots to stop the spread of slavery after the infamous 1857 Dred Scott case.
Lincoln asks Illinois’s future governor to plant an anonymous endorsement for Congressional candidate James Matheny in local newspapers. Though Matheny was not a Republican, Lincoln explains, “he is with us” in opposing the Dred Scott decision. Broadening the base of the Republican Party, Lincoln argues, is essential to defeating pro-slavery forces.
Item #21945.99, PRICE ON REQUEST
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Frederick Douglass’s Tribute to John Brown
FREDERICK DOUGLASS,
Autograph Quotation Signed, July 6, 1881.
Others saw madness, but Douglass saw the clarity of a martyr’s vision.
Douglass pens a phrase from his “Lecture on John Brown,” delivered at Storer College in Harpers Ferry on Memorial Day, 1881. Among the platform guests was the district attorney who prosecuted Brown.
Item #20742, $20,000
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Frederick Douglass’s Plural Vision of America
FREDERICK DOUGLASS,
Autograph Quotation Signed. [Washington, D.C., February 24, 1882]. 1 p., 5 x 8 in. With original envelope addressed to William F. Gable, Reading, Pa., stamped and postmarked Washington, D.C.
The nation’s foremost African American voice articulates his clear view of equality in the United States, quoted from his own 1852 address to a Free Soil meeting.
Item #23038, $35,000
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A Copperhead Newspaper Prints, Then Criticizes, the Emancipation Proclamation
[ABRAHAM LINCOLN]. EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION,
Newspaper. New York Journal of Commerce. New York, N.Y., January 3, 1863. 4 pp., 24 x 32½ in.
An early report of the Emancipation Proclamation, where the editors describe Lincoln’s bold move as “a farce coming in after a long tragedy....Most of the people regard it as a very foolish piece of business.”
Item #22448.01, $1,450
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‘Rally round the Flag, Boys!’ President Lincoln Centerfold
[EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION],
Newspaper. Harper’s Weekly, October 1, 1864. 16 pp., complete, disbound.
Item #H 10-1-1864, $225
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Reporting the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and the Union Victory That Precipitated It
[EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION],
Newspaper. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, New York, N.Y., October 11, 1862. 16 pp., 11 x 16 in.
Reporting the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history, and the occasion for Lincoln to issue his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation warning the South to return to the Union or face losing their slaves.
Item #22501.41, $995
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The American Museum Magazine Considers Race and Slavery, Bound Together with Congressional Proceedings on the Bill of Rights
MATHEW CAREY,
Magazine. The American Museum, or Repository of Ancient and Modern Fugitive Pieces, &c. Volume VI, July to December, 1789. 492 pp., plus 46 pp. bound in, Proceedings of Congress, from the First Session of the First Congress, including the process of amending the U.S. Constitution by adding a Bill of Rights. Signed by previous owner, Connecticut Revolutionary War General Jedediah Huntington on free front endpaper. Dedicated in type to George Washington. Bound in contemporary calf, binding worn, small library label on spine, some staining on title page, several pages trimmed near end, with minor loss of text, primitive drawings of soldiers on back endpaper.
Item #22660, $2,400
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Washington Crossing the Delaware (SOLD)
[EMANUEL GOTTLIEB LEUTZE],
Engraving. Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Paul Girardet after Leutze’s painting. New York, N.Y., Goupil & Co., 1853. Mezzotint and line engraving on India paper, mounted as issued to a larger sheet of engraving paper, printed caption, “Subscriber’s copy,” numbered “50.” 38¼ x 22¼ in., framed 51 x 38½ in.
Item #21086, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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“Men of Color, To Arms! A Call by Frederick Douglass.” (SOLD)
[AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS]. FREDERICK DOUGLASS,
Newspaper. New York Tribune, March 5, 1863, 8 pp., 15½ x 20½ in. Disbound.
Douglass entreats African Americans to join the 54th Massachusetts regiment in a speech of March 2, 1863, from Rochester, New York.
Item #22908, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Frederick Douglass Calls for Equal Opportunity in New York (SOLD)
[FREDERICK DOUGLASS],
Newspaper. New York Tribune, New York, N.Y., February 13, 1862, 8 pp., 15½ x 20½ in. Disbound.
“A Black Man on the War, An Address By Frederick Douglass at the Cooper Institute” occupies four columns on page 7.
Item #22922, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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African-American Union Soldier Holding Rifle
[AFRICAN-AMERICAN SOLDIER],
Photograph. Ca. 1863-1865
Sixth plate tintype of a seated African-American Union soldier holding his rifle, housed in an ornate gutta-percha case with a floral motif and red velvet lining.
Item #20969, $7,500
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Congressional Copy of The 13th Amendment Signed by Abraham Lincoln (SOLD)
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
Document Signed (“Abraham Lincoln”) as President, [Washington, D.C., ca. February 1, 1865]. Co-signed by Hannibal Hamlin as Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate, Schuyler Colfax as Speaker of the House, 37 of the 38 senators and 114 of the 119 Congressmen who voted for it. One of six or seven known “Congressional” copies of the Thirteenth Amendment signed by Lincoln and members of the Senate and House who voted in favor of the resolution [and one of thirteen or fourteen known copies signed by Lincoln]. 1 page, 20 5/8 x 15 3/8”, engrossed on lined vellum.
“Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States…”
Item #21902, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Eleanor Roosevelt Stands for Civil Rights – Her Four Freedoms
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT,
Typed Letter Signed as First Lady, to Addie Frizielle. Washington, D.C., May 13, 1944. 1 p., 61/8 x 9¼ in. On White House stationery, with original envelope.
The First Lady defends her advocacy of civil rights: “I doubt if it does any people anywhere any harm to tell them that you believe they are entitled to certain rights and you are willing to see them obtain those rights” and counters the writer’s fear of using mixed-race bathrooms at work: “if you have to use the same toilets and wash basins...[and] are nervous, there are certain precautions which you can always take.”
Item #22780, $20,000
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James Madison Signed Membership Form as President of American Colonization Society
JAMES MADISON,
Document Signed. “Office of the Colonization Society.” Washington, [ca. 1833-1836]. With Society’s seal engraved at bottom center (a ship sailing towards Liberia, with Latin motto “Lex in Tenebris” – light amid darkness). 1 p., 8¼ x 11⅛ in.
A rare blank membership certificate, signed in advance by the Society’s President. It would have conferred a life membership in the controversial American Colonization Society, which advocated gradual manumission of slaves and colonization of freed blacks to Liberia.
Signed membership certificates from the Society are relatively rare. Only four have appeared in major auction records in the last 30 years. According to the Library of Congress, “Selling life memberships was a standard fund-raising practice of benevolent societies such as the American Colonization Society. At thirty dollars each, the memberships were a popular gift for ministers. In 1825, one of the agents who sold the certificates in New England estimated that ‘not less than $50,000 have in this way been poured into the treasury of the Lord.’”
This is a superb artifact of antebellum America. It marks the commitment of the “Father of the Constitution” to a solution to the race dilemma that would be castigated today, but which was moderate for its time.
Item #21876, $5,500
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