Save Search Parameters
Clear All
Manuscripts (45)
SORT BY
Last Added
- Last Added
- Date Written
- A-Z
- Relevance
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1464
Nixon sends a letter of condolence to the parents of William Schroeder, who was killed at the Kent State anti-war demonstration in May of 1970.
Add to History Board
Share
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1272
One of Roosevelt's many jabs at Wilson, whom he labelled a coward for failing to declare war on Germany in 1915 after the sinking of the Lusitania.
Add to History Board
Share
Typed Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1276
Theodore Roosevelt expresses his admiration for Abraham Lincoln and wishes to emulate him in championing the cause of the common people.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1544
President Lincoln asks Major Ramsey on behalf of a widowed woman to find work for her two sons. "Wanting to work is so rare a merit, that it should be encouraged," Lincoln continued, echoing his own famous work ethic.
Add to History Board
Share
Lincoln Asks General Grant as a Friend, for a Favor: Find a Place for His Son, Robert, on His Staff
January 19, 1865
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1548
In order to broker a compromise between his wife, who had already buried two sons, and Robert Todd, who desperately wished to experience the war, Lincoln writes to Grant, not as President, but as a friend, asking him to find a place on his staff for Robert to serve. Lincoln asks merely for his son to be given a nominal rank and that Lincoln himself, and not the public, would furnish his necessary means.
Add to History Board
Share
William T. Sherman Recalls His Trip to the Levant, and Teases His Lady Friend About Harem Life
January 20, 1890
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 1587
William T. Sherman writes to Mary Audenried, teasingly warning her that travelling in the Middle East is especially hazardous to women, and that she could find herself in a harem. Sherman insists that western women are treated more as equals than women in the Levant.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 1688
Twain is asked by a correspondent for recommended reading. Here he lists his favorite books.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Manuscript
4 pages
SMC 1706
In an unpublished article, Mark Twain excoriates Theodore Roosevelt for bullying a fifteen-year-old girl and for promoting a man who, it was well known, was "brutal" to a woman in a waiting room.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 1759
Grant marvels at Egypt's antiquity, at "ruins that have been standing - as ruins - some of them, for many ages before the beginning of the Christian era." This causes Grant to find Egypt more interesting than any other place he has visited.
Add to History Board
Share
Albert Einstein Renounces German Citizenship;"I Will Not Be Returning to Germany, Perhaps Never Again"
March 28, 1933
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1792
Albert Einstein writes to his son from aboard the Belgenland, where he has learned that Hitler had given orders to ransack not only his Berlin apartment, but also his summer cottage. He decides whilst onboard to renounce his German citizenship, and tells his son that he will likely never return to Germany again.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Endorsement Signed
1 page
SMC 1811
Abraham Lincoln directs the release of "this boy" who had enlisted in the Union Army and received the standard bonus. Whether the boy was underage, AWOL, or a bounty-jumper(one of many who signed up for the enlistment bonus and then deserted) is unknown.
Add to History Board
Share
Theodore Roosevelt Lambasts Woodrow Wilson for Refusing to Let Him Lead a Division in World War I
June 11, 1917
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 2022
Fifty-nine year old, arthritic, overweight Theodore Roosevelt lambasts President Woodrow Wilson for refusing to allow him to lead a division in World War I, calling it Wilson's inability to "rise above the cheapest kind of party politics."
Add to History Board
Share
Mary Surratt's Daughter Petitions Andrew Johnson for the Return of Her Mother's Remains
February 5, 1869
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 2033
Mary Surratt was hanged as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. She was also the first woman executed by the United States government. Here, her daughter, Anna, successfully petitions President Andrew Johnson for the return of her body.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 2038
Lincoln, who always liked to give his son Tad special gifts, asks here for two maps for his son.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Note Signed
2 pages
SMC 2117
Samuel Clemens explains his nom de plume as originating as a navigational term along the Mississippi. "Mark Twain" signified a depth sounding of two fathoms, and was called out by the leadsman; it was a term Twain, having served as a riverboat captain, would have heard daily.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Manuscript Signed
1 page
SMC 2233
His education, Lincoln said, was deficient: it lasted, formally, but a year. At 16 years old, Lincoln created a personal notebook, known then as a sum book. Here, amid arithmetical calculations, he also writes a piece of doggerel, daydreaming about his future.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 2419
Add to History Board
Share
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 128
In Washington, President Woodrow Wilson, writing on the letterhead of his Cornish, N.H. estate at Harlakenden, reports to his daughters, whom he left behind in Cornish, that the White House is the most "empty and forlorn" house imaginable.
Add to History Board
Share
Three Days Before He is Assassinated, Abraham Lincoln Orders the Discharge of a Sickly Boy from the Army
April 11, 1865
Autograph Note Signed
4 pages
SMC 211
Three days before he will be shot and killed, Lincoln responds to a friend’s letter beseeching his help in arranging the discharge of a sickly boy from the army.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 212
On his last birthday, Abraham Lincoln pardons mischievous schoolboys, allowing them to return to school on condition that they do not misbehave.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 281
Samuel Clemens writes to his daughter Jean about the new house, "Innocence at Home," President Grover Cleveland's morality and abilities, and the doctor's orders for her epilepsy.
Add to History Board
Share
From Prison, a Defiant Alfred Dreyfus Writes to his Family Swearing to Clear His Name
January 14, 1895
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 295
Alfred Dreyfus writes to his family from prison, and attempts to lead his family by example by keeping his head held high and not weakening in the fight to clear his name from the stain of treason.
Add to History Board
Share
Warren G. Harding Thanks a Young Girl for a Four-Leaf Clover, Just as His Luck was Running Out
June 14, 1923
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 324
In June of 1923, a young girl named Vivian Little sent President Warren G. Harding a pressed four-leaf clover for good luck. Ironically, that month would bring the worst luck yet for the President; the scandals he was involved in were beginning to surface, and his heart disease would take his life within two months.
Add to History Board
Share
Abraham Lincoln's Famous Civil War Condolence Letter to Young Fanny McCullough About Loss and Memory
December 23, 1862
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 346
Written to Fanny McCullough on the loss of her father, Abraham Lincoln makes a very rare reference to his mother's death when he was a boy. Lincoln, too, was dealing with more recent grief, having buried his son earlier that year. This letter was written a week after the battle of Fredericksburg, which claimed the lives of over 1500 men, including Fanny's father.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 378
Chaim Weizmann agrees to stand as Godfather to the son of Major General Orde Wingate, Orde Jonathan Wingate.
Add to History Board
Share
Eisenhower's Trip to Ohrdruf Concentration Camp: "I Never Dreamed... It Was Horrible."
April 15, 1945
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 393
General Eisenhower writes to his wife, after seeing the Ohrdruf concentration camp, that he never dreamt that such cruelty could exist in this world. Poignantly, he mentions that many American soldiers do not seem to know what they are fighting for. Eisenhower ordered every unit not on the front lines to tour the camp, and writes here "now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against."
Add to History Board
Share
Abraham Lincoln's Check to His Son, Robert Lincoln, to Equip Him For Service Under Grant
February 20, 1865
Check Signed
1 page
SMC 456
Check from Abraham Lincoln to his son, Robert Todd Lincoln. The president had finally allowed his son to serve in the war, and made sure he was sent to General Grant. This check was to ensure that his son was properly kitted out for war.
Add to History Board
Share
Mourning Daughter Susy, Mark Twain Describes His Family Life as Adrift, Indifferent, and Derelict
January 19, 1897
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 484
Mark Twain describes the listlessness of his family life since the sudden death of his daughter Susy. Whereas once they had a charted course, now they are adrift. And what is more, they are "derelict" and indifferent to their plight.
Add to History Board
Share
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 550
Writing a fortnight after the death of his favorite son, Quentin, Theodore Roosevelt admits his difficulty, and remarks that "the old should not live when the young die."
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 592
Responding to his son's request for a loan, former President Tyler tells his son that between medical bills, providing for his own growing family and supporting his own brother, he doesn't have much to give, but is prepared to help, should his son not be able to secure a loan from a friend.
Add to History Board
Share
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 716
President John F. Kennedy's infant son Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was born prematurely and lived for 39 hours. Five days later, the president thanks his sister-in-law and husband for their support during this difficult time.
Add to History Board
Share
Max Nordau Praises the Juvenile Poetry of "E. Babette Deutsch" and Predicts an Exceptional Future
October 22, 1907
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 755
Over a decade before she became famous as a poet, novelist, critic and translator, Babette Deutsch received this letter of praise from Max Nordau.
Add to History Board
Share
Fifteen Years as Prime Minister is Enough, David Ben-Gurion Says: Now He's Writing the History of Israel
June 27, 1966
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 772
David Ben-Gurion explains to an admirer that he left politics because no single person should be practically synonymous with a country. He has a different and important task at hand: writing his epic history of Israel from 1870-1965.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 954
President John Tyler, writing to his wife amidst a "political storm," tells her that the Presidency is a prison, from which he can only escape for minutes.
Add to History Board
Share
Pierce on His Favorite Portrait of Himself, That of His Dead Son, and Those of the First Five Presidents
June 7, 1854
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 962
Franklin Pierce writes to Francis Bicknell Carpenter, a renowned painter who would go on to achieve even greater fame with his paintings of Lincoln, especially of Lincoln reading the Emancipation Proclamation. Here, Pierce expresses the great satisfaction he and Mrs. Pierce take in Carpenter’s portrait of his dead son – painted from a daguerreotype following the boy's tragic death in 1853.
Add to History Board
Share
President Franklin Pierce Warmly Endorses the Kansas-Nebraska Act as "Demonstrably Right and Patriotic"
March 9, 1854
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 966
Pierce endorses the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed citizens of those states to decide if they wanted to retain slaves or not. This decision reversed the Missouri compromise of 1820 and sharply divided the nation.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 979
Just seven months before this letter was penned, her beloved son and only surviving child, Bennie, was struck down before her eyes in a train wreck, in which he was the only fatality. Here she writes to her sister about family matters - but her tragic loss is never far from her thoughts.
Add to History Board
Share
1858 Senate Report Regarding the "Outrages at Jaffa" - The Rape and Murder of the Dickson Family Colony
May 1, 1858
Typed Manuscript
30 pages
SMC 1012
The 1858 Senate report, which details the murder and rape of the Dickson family in their agricultural colony. The author, Jonathan Steinbeck was a descendent of members of the colony, and the "Outrages at Jaffa" is alluded to in his East of Eden. Herman Melville, inspired by the tragic events, wrote his epic poem Clarel.
Add to History Board
Share
Lincoln, Four Days After Son Willie's Death, Tells Sumner Mary Lincoln Needs His Help - "Can You Come?"
February 24, 1862
Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 1034
Four days after the death of his eleven year-old son Willie - and as his youngest son still lay seriously ill - a grieving Lincoln asks Mary Lincoln's close friend, Senator Charles Sumner, to call on his inconsolable wife.
Add to History Board
Share
Robert Todd Lincoln is Gratified That His Father's Name is Still Current and His Memory Respected
December 24, 1883
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 1107
Robert Todd Lincoln is gratified to learn that a political club is named after his father. In this letter, he also declines to run for president.
Add to History Board
Share
Robert E. Lee, Charmingly, and Piously, Responds to a Young Girl's Gift of Socks in 1865
December 20, 1865
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1123
Robert E. Lee thanks a little girl for her letter and her gift of socks that he has received upon becoming president of Washington College.
Add to History Board
Share
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 1183
Edna M. Hurry, a fifteen-year-old bookkeeper, goes into striking detail in her eyewitness account of President William McKinley's assassination.
Add to History Board
Share
Secretary of Navy Long: President William McKinley, "Acute and Wise," Will Not Seek Third Term
June 11, 1901
Typed Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1186
In this private note to his daughter, in which he discusses, amongst other things, a birthday present for his daughter, Naval Secretary John Long reveals that President William McKinley will absolutely not be seeking a third term.
Add to History Board
Share
Theodore Roosevelt Bitterly Regrets Being Forced to Sit Through WWI At Home "In Comfort and Safety"
August 14, 1918
Typed Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1253
Roosevelt has lost one son to the Great War, and two have been badly injured in it. He can't stand the idea that his sons have been put in harm's way, whilst he remains at home, and finds it terrible that the war takes the young. Roosevelt also finds it "more terrible, of course, if the young fear to face death in a great crisis for a great cause."
Add to History Board
Share
Edith Roosevelt on Her Husband's Recovery from an Assassination Attempt and the Bullet Left Inside Him
February 3, 1913
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages
SMC 1254
Edith Roosevelt writes to a friend who had asked the Roosevelts for medical as well as financial guidance. Mrs. Roosevelt answers that the medical advice should be left to their family physician; Theodore will dispense with the financial advice after the medical issue is resolved. She mentions in passing that the surgeon has deemed it safer to leave the bullet in Theodore's chest, which makes her anxious.
Add to History Board
Share
More Results