This double-sided ledger page from the Hudson River Rail Road Company includes signatures by stockholders for receipt of payments for the 11^th and 12^th dividends, paid in October 1867 and April 1868, respectively. The company paid its shareholders 4 percent dividends on capital stock twice each year—in April and October. This page is signed twice by Cornelius Vanderbilt, once for the October 1867 dividends on his own 22,740 shares and again for those of his son William H. Vanderbilt’s 2,133 shares. Cornelius Vanderbilt’s shares generated $90,960, while those of his son yielded $8,532.

These two pages include the names of 42 individuals and companies that were stockholders in the Hudson River Railroad. Most entries are for from one to a few hundred shares of stock, but Work, Davis & Barton owned 3,000 shares of stock. One of Vanderbilt’s rivals for control of the Erie Railroad, James Fisk Jr. (1835-1872), later asserted that Work, Davis, and Barton held the shares on behalf of Vanderbilt.

A very large letterpress broadside for three intramural Yale boat races on Lake Saltonstall in East Haven, Connecticut. Participants rowed in racing shells, double sculls, and wherries, contesting for cash prizes. Excursion trains from downtown New Haven cost 50 cents, and a band enlivened the afternoon.

Best known for his seminal Birds of America, Audubon’s prints are among the world’s most recognized images.

Best known for his seminal Birds of America, Audubon’s prints are among the world’s most recognized images.

Complete Translation

Dear Mademoiselle,

It will give me great pleasure to see my work figured in the respected publication of Mr. Harper. I am thinking of returning to New York on Monday and I will have the pleasure of bringing you, in person, the block and the notes that you asked for.

Would you be so kind to thank Mr. Harper for <2> his appreciation of my work and yourself accept the expression of my most devoted feelings of friendship.

                                                                        Bartholdi

Philadelphia 8 June 1876

The July 8, 1876 issue of Harper’s Weekly, containing a supplement celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, complete with a centerspread facsimile of one of Jefferson’s draft manuscripts and the signatures of the signers, along with related engravings.

A unique and important artifact of his childhood.

While Douglass’s letters are scarce, documents signed during his tenure as recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia can be had very reasonably.

CAUGHT! Thomas Nast’s classic image of Santa Claus being hugged by a little girl graces the front cover of this issue of Harper’s Weekly.

The double-page centerfold is another nice Thomas Nast Christmas print, “Christmas Fancies – ‘Don’t You Wish You Wore Stockings?’,” showing children and their dog in front of a fireplace. Will Carleton’s poem, The Christmas Tree, is illustrated with art by Howard Pyle which fills nearly an entire page. Other prints include the “Electric Railway at Berlin, Prussia,” “The Ring Theatre, Vienna, Recently Destroyed by Fire,” “Hon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State,” “The Late John W. Forney,” “Short and Sweet – ‘It’s Too Too Too Funny!’,”  and “The Interrupted Journey.” Thomas Nast is credited with creating the modern version of Santa Claus.

“We hope you will be able to be ‘one with us’ in the bazar.”

Canadian photographer George Barker was one of the first professional photographers to visit Florida. In the late 1880s, he documented the landscapes and people of northern and central Florida. Barker took this large-format photograph of an African American cartman at the city gate of St. Augustine.

In this personal letter written months before her death, Lucy Stone thanks Almira Pitman for a donation of $5, congratulates her on the birth of another child, reminisces about Pitman’s mother, and speaks of her own child.