|
|
Jackie Robinson Signed Biography
JACKIE ROBINSON,
Signed Copy of Milton J. Shapiro, Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers. New York: Washington Square Press, 1967. Paperback. Robinson inscribed the book on the interior front cover: “To David with best wishes / Jackie Robinson” in bold blue ink. 248 pp., 4¼ x 7 in.
Jackie Robinson’s combination of character, discipline, strength, selflessness, pride, valor, and depth of understanding made him a transformational figure. More than simply a sports icon, Robinson shaped America’s civil society and even government. This biography, first published in 1957 by Julian Messner, captures the excitement of his barrier-breaking career.
Item #27893, $3,500
|
|
1966 Civil Rights Charge of Discrimination Form
[CIVIL RIGHTS],
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Blank Charge of Discrimination form, 1966, Washington, DC. 3 pp., 8½ x 14 in.
The form outlines how to file a charge of discrimination, “pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” provides information on how the commission works, and explains how to fill out the form. It includes an attached blank form that could be removed along the perforated edge.
Item #26464, $350
|
|
Lyndon B. Johnson Signing Pen for Voting Rights Act of 1965
LYNDON B. JOHNSON,
“One of the pens used by the President, August 6, 1965, in signing S. 1564, An Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes,” per original printed slip in original box. Clear barrel pen, “The President-The Whitehouse” printed in white, with “Esterbrook” on the nib, 6⅜ in. long. With additional artifacts.
This artifact came from Arnold “Pappy” Noel (1922-2009), a longtime news photographer who at that time was in the Public Affairs Office of the Secretary of Defense. Noel earned his nickname in World War II as a B-29 tail gunner. After the war and his retirement, he joined United Press International as a newsreel and still photographer, filming presidential and White House events, marches on Washington and Selma, fires and riots in Washington and Detroit, and early NASA events. At the 1968 Democratic Convention, he became part of the story when he was injured and arrested for refusing to hand over his film of “excessive abuse of law enforcement agents towards demonstrators.” He was president of the White House Press Photographers Association for two years, leaving the press corps to work as a public affairs assistant to President Ford.
Item #27655, $18,000
|
|
Robert Kennedy Discourages a Write-In Campaign in 1964
ROBERT F. KENNEDY,
Typed Document. Draft press release, extensive corrections and addenda in Robert Kennedy’s hand. n.d., [ca. March 5, 1964]. 1 page, 8 x 8⅝ in.
“President Johnson should be free to select his own running mate”
Item #22827, $5,500
|
|
Senator Sprague of Rhode Island Writes About Fascinating Debates in Congress Involving Freedom for the Families of African American Recruits and the Limits of Free Speech in the Senate
[AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS],
William Sprague, Autograph Letter Signed, to William D. Ely, January 28, 1864, Washington, D.C. 2 pp., 5 x 8 in.
“a discussion upon a section of a Malitia bill freeing the wife & children of the slave that enlist will occupy most if not all the day.”
Item #26531, $1,250
|
|
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail in Liberation Magazine
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR,
“Letter from Birmingham Jail,” in Liberation: An Independent Monthly, June 1963, New York. 32 pp.
This issue of Liberation magazine includes the full text of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written on April 16, 1963, when King was jailed for disobeying a judge’s blanket injunction against “parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing.” King and other civil rights protestors were arrested on April 12.
A supporter smuggled a copy of an April 12 newspaper to him, which included an open letter entitled “A Call for Unity.” Written by eight white Birmingham clergymen, representing Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish congregations, the letter opposed events “directed and led in part by outsiders” and urged local African Americans to negotiate and use the courts if they were denied their rights, rather than protest. These clergymen agreed that social injustices existed but insisted that the battle against racial segregation should take place in the courts and not in the streets.
Provoked by the letter from fellow clergymen, King began to write a response in the margins of the newspaper itself. He continued the letter on scraps of paper supplied by a supportive African American fellow inmate who served as a trustee and finished the nearly 6,000-word letter on a pad provided by his attorneys. Walter Reuther, the president of the United Auto Workers, arranged to pay $160,000 to bail out King and other jailed protestors.
Item #27490.01, $3,500
|
|
A Week After Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK Asks Treasury Secretary Dillon About the Possibility of a Run on Gold if the Crisis Had Lasted Longer or Involved a Total Blockade
JOHN F KENNEDY,
Typed Draft Letter with autograph corrections, to Douglas Dillon, November 5, 1962, Washington, D.C. 1 p., 6¾ x 8¾ in. With Evelyn Lincoln (Personal Secretary to JFK) letter of authenticity, July 16, 1990, and small note card with Kennedy doodle.
“If the crisis had become more pronounced, if there had been a total blockade ...would we have had a serious run on gold? … It should be possible for us to get better coordination with the western governments…”
In this typed draft, with Kennedy’s handwritten corrections, the President asks Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon about the monetary implications of a prolonged Cuban missile crisis.
Item #27507, $10,500
|
|
Mercury Astronaut Gordon Cooper’s Signed “Bioscience Data Plan” for Conducting Vital Biomedical Research on the Impact of Space Flight on the Human Body
GORDON COOPER JR.,
Typed Document Signed, “NASA PROJECT MERCURY WORKING PAPER NO. 164 / PROJECT MERCURY / BIOSCIENCE DATA PLAN,” December 1, 1960, inscribed “My personal copy / Gordon Cooper.” 7 leaves + covers, 8 x 10 ½ in. Three-hole punched on left side; some toning; very good.
Medical researchers wanted to gather “aeromedical” data and test effects on the Project Mercury astronaut’s body of “significant and unusual stresses of manned capsule flight.” The stresses they were looking into included weightlessness, acceleration tolerance, radiation, noise vibration, thermal stresses, and hypobaric and environmental control system effects. At the time, some scientists believed that weightlessness could lead to circulatory failure, disorientation, gastrointestinal and urinary disturbances, and lack of muscular coordination. The key conclusion of Project Mercury’s biomedical program was that human beings could function in the space environment for incrementally increasing flight durations of more than one day.
Item #24308.01, $750
|
|
JFK Photographs and Ephemera Collection
[JOHN F. KENNEDY],
Archive. This amazing collection includes many original photographic prints of the Kennedy family, and an assortment of Kennedy-era White House ephemera including note cards and official funeral programs and material.
Item #20708, $3,000
|
|
JFK’s Inaugural Address
JOHN F. KENNEDY,
Broadside. The Inaugural Address of John Fitzgerald Kennedy President of the United States. Washington, D.C., January 20, 1961. No printer, place or date. 1 p., 15 x 20½ in.
“Ask not what your country can do for you: Ask what you can do for your country.”
Item #28047, $250
|
|
Former President Truman Praises Kennedy’s Far Reaching 1960 Democratic Platform on the Rights of Man and the Need for Security; Immigration; Health Care; Minimum Wage; Equal Work for Equal Pay; Civil Rights and Voting Rights
HARRY S. TRUMAN,
Pamphlet Inscribed and Signed. 1960 Democratic National Convention program, Los Angeles, signed in 1964. “To Robert William Bean Kindest regards 1/22/64 Harry Truman / It’s a great platform!” 3¾ x 8½ in.
Before John F. Kennedy could defeat Richard Nixon in the election of 1960, he had to win his party’s nomination against veteran Senator Lyndon Johnson and perennial candidate Adlai Stevenson. Kennedy did so handily, on the first ballot of the convention.
Item #23216, $1,650
|
|
Ben-Gurion to Moshe Sharett on Sharett’s Resignation as Foreign Minister
DAVID BEN-GURION,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Moshe Sharett, July 28, 1956, Mount Carmel, Israel. 3 pp., 4½ x 8¼ in.
“I came to recognize that your service as Foreign Minister was not for the good of the country, although I did not cease to value your talents and dedication....”
Item #24516, $3,600
|
|
Harry Truman to Dean Acheson about Trip to Europe, Pointing Out That Michelangelo’s David is Uncircumcised
HARRY S. TRUMAN,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Dean Acheson, July 20, 1956, Kansas City, Missouri. On “Harry S. Truman” stationery. 4 pp., 7¼ x 10½ in.
“Dean, I’m sure they like us and if we had a Secretary of State and a President they’d love us as they did in the past.”
This remarkable and playful letter exudes friendship between former President Truman and his former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, as Truman tells Acheson some of his adventures on his recent grand tour of Europe. Truman’s personality and wit sparkle in this private letter to a close friend.
Item #27506, $15,000
|
|
Margaret Truman’s Wedding Waltz
HARRY S. TRUMAN,
Typed Document Signed as former President, March 21, 1956. 1 p.
“She lived in the White House / With her Dad and Mother / For her father was President / Better than any other…”
Item #21485, $2,500
|
|
Golda Meir Stresses the Need to Settle New Immigrants
GOLDA MEIR,
Typed Letter Signed “Golda Meyerson” as Minister of Labour, to Yaakov Hazan. Jerusalem, October 23, 1954. 1 p., 6 x 8 in. In Hebrew on Ministry of Labour letterhead.
Golda Meyerson (she would change her name to Meir in 1956), promotes the idea of Mapam (the Marxist United Workers’ Party) joining Sharett’s Mapai (Workers’ Party) government. Hazan, the recipient, was one of Mapam’s co-founders.
Item #22933, $3,400
|
|
David Ben-Gurion ALS—Preventing a War between the Religious and the Secular in Early Israel
DAVID BEN-GURION,
Autograph Letter Signed, to D. Z. Benat, July 9, 1954, Jerusalem, Israel. In Hebrew, 1 p., 6½ x 9 in.
“The continuance of the compromise is dependent, first and foremost, on the degree of tolerance that people who hold opposing outlooks can show through a mutual love of Israel.”
Item #26100, $7,500
|
|
Harry Truman Presidential Appointment to UN Agency for Palestinian Relief
HARRY S. TRUMAN,
Signed Presidential appointment to a UN agency for Palestinian relief. February 21, 1952. 23 x19 inches.
Item #21308.02, $2,000
|
|
American Christian Palestine Committee Scrapbook from 1951 Trip to Israel & Arab Lands
AMERCAN CHRISTIAN PALESTINE COMMITEE,
Scrapbook compiled by Harrison Fry, Religion Editor of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, one of the twenty-two tour participants. April 1951. Items glued or stapled to several pages, with additional papers laid in. In green leatherette boards, rules and decorations in yellow. 120 pp., 9½ x 11¾ x 1 in.
Item #25321, $1,500
|
|
Menachem Begin Organizing Opposition and Criticizing Prime Minister Ben-Gurion
MENACHEM BEGIN,
Autograph Manuscript Signed, in Hebrew, Speech on Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, [November 1, 1950-July 30, 1951]. 3 pp., 5 x 7¾ in.
“To the Mapai regime: ‘Neither farewell nor see you again.’”
Item #22794, $10,000
|
|
“Freedom to Serve”: Secretary of Defense’s Copy of Seminal Report on End of Official Racial Discrimination in the Armed Forces
[LOUIS A. JOHNSON],
Book. Freedom to Serve: Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1950). May 1950 report to President Harry S. Truman by the Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. Rare presentation edition, bound in decorative brown cloth with gilt lettering, with Secretary of Defense Johnson’s name gilt-stamped on the front cover. 82 pp., 6.8 x 9.8 in.
“the Committee is convinced that a policy of equality of treatment and opportunity will make for a better Army, Navy, and Air Force. It is right and just. It will strengthen the nation.”
Item #24113, $1,200
|
|