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Topic

Human Aspect

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    Manuscripts (125)

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    Rare Union Soldier's Account Of Ambush Resulting In Death Of Jewish Colonel Marcus Spiegel

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 2456

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    Jewish Officer Ferdinand Levy Recruits a Soldier into the Famed Les Enfants Perdu Regiment

    Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1577

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    Superlative Battlefield Letter From Bermuda Hundred

    Autograph Letter Signed

    4 pages

    SMC 103

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    The Baltimore Plot and Attempted Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 2024

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    Robert E. Lee's Famous Letter Declining to Furlough, As a Rule, Jewish Confederate Troops for the High Holidays

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 2494

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    Truman on the Recognition of the Jewish State and the

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 370

    Two days into the Israeli War of Independence, Harry Truman thanks a rabbi for his offer to assist the President, and refers to the fledgling state's situation as "very dark."
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    Ten-Cent Henry Rice Sutler Coin

    Historical artifacts

    1 page

    SMC 2241

    Ten-Cent Sutler coin of Henry Rice, a close friend of President Lincoln's. A sutler is a civilian merchant who sells goods and provisions to soldiers, usually out of the back of a wagon, with which he would follow the moving army.
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    Lincoln Family Friend Edward Jonas Recalls Abraham Lincoln and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 398

    Edward Jonas recalls his interactions with Abraham Lincoln during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858. Though he was a young boy at the time, he recounted how Lincoln exchanged stories with him and listened extremely attentively to him.
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    Theodore Roosevelt: “What a Dreadful Creature Wilson is!”

    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.
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    Palestine, Truman Says, is a “Matter of Considerable Disturbance” to be Determined by U.N.

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 686

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    General Eisenhower Approves a Soldier's Request to Shoot Captured Reich Marshal Goering -

    Autograph Note Signed

    1 page

    SMC 702

    Eisenhower had ordered every soldier not on the front to tour a concentration camp in order to understand not only the magnitude of the Holocaust, but the enemy itself. As a result, one soldier put in a request to shoot Hermann Goering, if he was indeed to be shot. Goering was sentenced to death by hanging, but took his own life in his cell. Here, Eisenhower refers to the corpulent Goering as "that fat ___"
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    Homesick General Eisenhower Writes of a WWII Visit to Jerusalem and Levant at Christmas

    Autograph Letter Signed

    3 pages

    SMC 708

    Homesick Eisenhower writes to his wife to thank her for Christmas gifts and to express his longing to see her. He omits his recent promotion as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces.
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    After His

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 715

    President Kennedy thanks General Landon, the Commander in Chief of the United States Air Force in Europe for the "magnificent way" in which the General ensured that Kennedy's visit to Germany was a success.
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    David Ben-Gurion Compares, Favorably, the Fledgling IDF to George Washington's Revolutionary Army

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 766

    At a critical juncture, when Israel was vastly outnumbered, Ben-Gurion compares the fledgling IDF to "an army that had been established by the owner of an estate in Virginia." Though Ben-Gurion compares the IDF to George Washington's Revolutionary Army and wishes to learn from it, he also claims that the Jewish people's situation is "different from any other nation."
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    Einstein, Working to Save Jews from Hitler, Discusses

    Typed Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 794

    Einstein discusses the Brown Book, an expose documenting, amongst other things, the oppression of Jews. The growing momentum of speaking out against Nazism was encouraging for Einstein, but he thought that it would be more impactful if the criticism came from "only foreign non-Jews." Einstein understood that with his high profile, his public condemnation of Germany would have deadly consequences for German Jews.
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    Albert Einstein Advises a Young Refugee From Germany, Then Controlled By What He Called

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 796

    Einstein encourages a young German immigrant to stay in California, as it offers more opportunities than Palestine; he advises against returning to Europe, from where, as he put it, "no good can come." He especially warns against Germany, controlled by "The Hitler Gang."
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    Einstein On His Anti-Nazi Work:

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 801

    In 1943, Albert Einstein writes to Lionel Ettlinger that had people only listened to the pair of them, the horrors of the Holocaust could have been avoided. Einstein had travelled throughout Belgium and England in 1933 - shortly after Ettlinger had released a documentary about the German aggression against the Jews in Europe - warning anyone who would listen.
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    Buchanan Approves Abraham Lincoln’s Ordering Fremont to Rescind His Emancipation Proclamation

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 984

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    Napoleon's Siege of Acre

    Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 999

    Bogged down at the Siege of Acre on what, only weeks before, he thought would be a quick victory on his way to Jerusalem, Napoleon here orders that his generals and the infantry, lancers and sappers, be paid.
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    Account of Execution of Deserters at Beverly Ford Mentions  Rabbi Praying With One of the Condemned Men

    Autograph Letter Signed

    5 pages

    SMC 1026

    Captain Jacob Winans writes to his father about the execution of deserters at Beverly Ford, mentioning the presence of a rabbi to pray with one of the convicted soldiers.
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    Breathtaking Detailed Eyewitness Account of the Execution of Deserters at Beverly Ford

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 1027

    This eyewitness account details the chronology of events, or protocol of the execution of deserters at Beverly Ford. Those executed had with them the clergyman of their faith. They "were accompanied by a Catholic priest, a Jewish Rabbi and a Methodist preacher."
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    Lincoln Interjects Himself Into a Case of Two Jewish Merchants Charged With Selling Goods to Blockaders

    Autograph Note Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1038

    Meyer and Philip Wallach were Jewish brothers who were charged with selling goods to blockaders and were held at an infamous prison for Confederate officers. Here, President Lincoln protects them by ordering the head of the prison to keep them in his custody - to neither send them away or allow them to be transferred.
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    Napoleon Bonaparte Authorizes a Soldier to Join the Egyptian Campaign in Syria

    Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1040

    Signed as General-in-Chief, Bonaparte signs papers for a soldier to join his campaign in Syria. The campaigns were deployed for French commercial interests, with the additional motivation of disrupting Britain's.
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    James K. Polk Gives Orders for a Fireproof Celebration for the Battle of Cerro Gordo in Washington

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1052

    Here Polk-mindful of the dangers of unattended candles and oil lamps-gives orders not to illuminate public offices in honor of General Scott’s victory at the Battle of Cerro Gordo.
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    Former President Millard Fillmore: Abraham Lincoln's Election Caused the War

    Autograph Letter Signed

    4 pages

    SMC 1061

    In this sometimes scathing letter mostly concerning Thurlow Weed, former President Millard Fillmore can say only one good thing about him: Weed was "the first among his friends to see and admit the danger to the country from Lincoln's election."
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    Millard Fillmore Asks Lincoln for a Favor; On the Back of the Letter, Lincoln Takes Steps to Oblige Him

    Autograph Endorsement Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1065

    Former President Fillmore asks President Lincoln to intercede on behalf of his nephew, a disgraced lieutenant. On the verso of the letter, Lincoln takes steps to oblige Fillmore, but ultimately did not intervene in the case.
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    Abraham Lincoln's Appointment of Benjamin F. Isherwood, the Creator of the Steam Navy

    Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1081

    Benjamin Isherwood designed steamboats that would quickly outrun blockade runners. Isherwood expanded the US Navy's fleet from 28 to 600 steam vessels in the course of the Civil War. Here, President Abraham Lincoln appoints Isherwood Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering.
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    Abraham Lincoln's Order That Sparked the New York City Draft Riots of 1863

    Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1084

    Abraham Lincoln's draft order for the state of New York, which sparked riots and racially-motivated violence and murders. It was the second largest civil insurrection in American history.
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    Abraham Lincoln Reacts to Attempted Jail-Break of Confederate POWs on Johnson Island

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1090

    This note from Lincoln to the Naval Secretary Gideon Welles instructs him to get a firsthand report about the infamous attempted prison break of Confederate POWs on Johnson's Island.
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    Oliver Wendell Holmes: At Fort Stevens, Abraham Lincoln Was Forced to Duck From Enemy Fire

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1106

    Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes confirms that during the Civil War, when he was serving as a captain, President Abraham Lincoln came to visit the troops at Fort Stevens, during which they were fired upon. This was the only time in American history a sitting president has exposed himself to combat. President Lincoln was forced to duck from enemy fire.
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    A Union Officer in the Field Describes the Reaction to News of Abraham Lincoln's Assassination

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 1128

    Here, an Ohio lieutenant, serving in Alabama, describes how the troops there received, and took, "news of the shocking murder of our president."
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    Dr. Jacob Da Silva Solis Cohen Certifies the 1864 Death of a

    Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1132

    Here J. Solis Cohen certifies the death of a former slave in Philadelphia, identifying him as a "Contraband": a legally complicated and politically fraught designation indicating a "self-emancipated" human chattel, many of whom, as the Union armies moved in the South, rushed toward the advancing troops, there to join the ranks of their liberators.
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    Theodore Roosevelt Bitterly Regrets Being Forced to Sit Through WWI At Home

    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."
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    A Final Roar: In One of His Last Letters, Theodore Roosevelt Blasts Woodrow Wilson

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1256

    Three days before he died, Theodore Roosevelt, by then unable to rise from the sofa and write, dictated this letter. In it, he finds the strength to lambast Woodrow Wilson for erring "in intellectual honesty and moral straight-forwardness," as well as finding fault in his own "single error," which was to support Wilson for the first sixty days of World War I.
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    A Rare Abraham Lincoln Quote from Shakespeare's Othello

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 414

    Here, relating to the Mexican War ending, Abraham Lincoln alludes to "Othello's occupation's gone."
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    Theodore Roosevelt Arranges a Dramatic Presentation About the Rough Riders

    Typed Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 424

    Roosevelt arranges to meet Mason Mitchell, whom he deems "the only Rough Rider with dramatic and literary capacity," in order to discuss their dramatic presentation about the Rough Riders.
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    Shortly After Firing General MacArthur, President Truman Writes of His

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 428

    In the days following MacArthur's dismissal, and all of the upheaval surrounding it, President Truman thanks his Secretary of State Dean Acheson for his unwavering support and friendship.
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    Harry Truman Looks at the Potsdam Conference 12 Years Later: An Astonishing Appraisal of What Went Wrong

    Autograph Letter Signed

    8 pages

    SMC 429

    Knowing that his papers would be released for reporters to examine his version of the Potsdam Conference twelve years prior, Harry Truman paints a revisionist history of what happened and what went wrong.
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    It Was His Boyhood Reading, Harry Truman Recalls, That Prepared Him for When His

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 430

    Harry Truman, the only U.S. President of the 20th century who did not receive a university education, reflects on how his childhood love of reading and self-education prepared him for his sudden ascent to the presidency.
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    President Abraham Lincoln Appoints Jewish West Pointer Alfred Mordecai Jr. Second Lieutenant

    Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 445

    President Abraham Lincoln appoints Alfred Mordecai Jr. a Second Lieutenant four months into the Civil War. Mordecai would climb the ranks and die a general.
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    Abraham Lincoln's Check to His Son, Robert Lincoln, to Equip Him For Service Under Grant

    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.
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    Theodore Roosevelt Decries the Deprivations Suffered by His Rough Riders After Battle of San Juan Hill

    Typed Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 465

    Colonel Theodore Roosevelt writes to the father of one of his soldiers who was taken ill with typhoid fever. He thanks the father for his offer to send some food to the soldiers but condemns the government for not providing enough food, supplies, and medical treatment to his cavalry.
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    FDR's 1938 Plan to Settle Jewish and

    Typed Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 473

    In 1938, Franklin Delano Roosevelt remarks, in the strictest privacy, that "in the crowded state of affairs in some nations in Europe and in certain areas of the United States, existing situations could be relieved by a small but fairly constant stream of emigrants to the unoccupied parts of the world." FDR is referring here to not only "white" refugees, but to European Jews as well.
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    Contemporary Copy of Chase's Letter to Abraham Lincoln in Support of General Hunter's Emancipation Order

    Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 501

    Salomon P. Chase, President Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, was the most ardent abolitionist in Lincoln's cabinet. Here, he praises General Hunter's declaration of emancipation of all slaves in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
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    David Ben Gurion on Anwar Sadat's Wanting Peace in 1971: He Isn't Convinced

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 508

    David Ben Gurion places responsibility for peace with the Egyptians at their feet, but also remarks that "a great deal depends on Russia."
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    John F. Kennedy: National Security and Future of the Space Program Depend on Ending Labor Strife Delays

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 523

    John F. Kennedy views the delays with the labor unions as a threat to not only the space program, but to national security. He urges Arthur Goldberg, the Secretary of Labor, to come to a swift arrangement with union leaders in order to resume the space race against the Soviets.
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    Early John F. Kennedy Letter About the Death of His Brother Joe, Which Would Propel Him Into Politics

    Typed Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 524

    This letter thanking Miss Forbush for her condolences and prayers on the occasion of Joe Jr.'s death in World War II marks the beginning of John F. Kennedy's shouldering the mantle of his father's political aspirations.
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    With World War I Still Raging, Theodore Roosevelt Mourns His Fallen Son

    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."
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    A Fateful Appointment: Abraham Lincoln Makes William T. Sherman a General

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 566

    Shortly after having been part of the Union loss at the Battle of Bull Run, Lincoln, in an effort to encourage the troops, promotes Sherman to General. Sherman would devastate the South and ensure Union victory three years later.
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    Lincoln Would be Glad to See General Milroy but knows

    Autograph Note Signed

    1 page

    SMC 570

    Abraham Lincoln gracefully sidesteps a meeting with the problematic General Milroy, who was arrested for losing half of his troops. Milroy railed against his superiors, who jailed him for his actions, and continuously pestered Lincoln for his release and restoration to command.
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    Autograph Letter Signed

    3 pages

    SMC 586

    Here, just six days after Abraham Lincoln won the presidency with a scant 40% of the vote, Former President John Tyler laments the election.
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    General Edmund Allenby Commemorates His Victorious Entrance Into Jerusalem One Year Later

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 595

    General Edmund Allenby, in celebrating the Allied victory of World War I, humbly commemorates the year anniversary of his conquering of Jerusalem.
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    Broadside

    1 page

    SMC 625

    South Carolina proclaims it has dissolved its bonds to the United States, becoming the first state to secede.
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    Harper's Weekly With Illustrated Story About Five Union Soldiers, Including a Jew, Executed for Desertion

    Ephemera

    3 pages

    SMC 650

    Original Harper's Weekly for September 26, 1863 about the execution of five Union deserters at Beverly Ford; with illustrations.
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    David Ben-Gurion on God’s Promises to His People: Strength and Peace – One Given, the Other, Coming

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 664

    Two years before the Yom Kippur War, and quoting from Psalms, David Ben Gurion tells a correspondent that there is definitely trouble brewing with Egypt, yet God promises his people two things: strength and peace. The former is obtained, and the latter, Ben-Gurion has faith, is coming.
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    A Historic Memo: Harry Truman Salutes Dean Acheson's Crucial Role in Going to War With Korea

    Autograph Note Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 685

    President Harry Truman commends Dean Acheson as Secretary of State for superbly handling events leading up to the Korean War.
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    Horatio Nelson Rejoices at the Raising of the Siege of Acre - And Napoleon's Fleeing

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 108

    Nelson jubilantly reports that the French are being pushed back from Acre and from Zante (Greece), pleased at Napoleon "the villain's" ignominious end.
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    Simon Wolf's Original Contract For the Book

    Document Signed

    3 pages

    SMC 109

    This contract between author and scholar Simon Wolf, and publisher and editor Louis E. Levy, is a seminal document of a seminal work, The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen, first published in 1895 and still in print, and use, over one hundred years later.
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    T.E. Lawrence on Palestine: No One Trusts the British for More Than Two Minutes

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 110

    Primarily discussing his book "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom," T.E. Lawrence confides in Brig. General Sir Gilbert Falkingham Clayton that no person of any "race or creed" living in Palestine trusts the British for "more than two minutes." If they would, he ruefully comments, "things would be more stable there."
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    T.E. Lawrence Wants to

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 111

    T.E. Lawrence writes to his superior at the Arab Bureau, General Clayton, to ask if he should send a letter he wrote to Sir Mark Sykes, the man responsible for divvying up the Middle East between the English and the French. Here, Lawrence mentions to Clayton that the "Jewish section" should be cleared up, and when they fight the French, the French section will fall into English hands, as well.
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    Autograph Letter Signed

    3 pages

    SMC 127

    Despite being condemned by the Chief Justice and public opinion, Buchanan, unwaveringly trusts in the words of his Secretary of War, James Holt, who wrote that Buchanan's "labors will yet be crowned by the glory that belongs to an enlightened Statesmanship & to an unsullied patriotism."
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    At the behest of President Lincoln, General Grant Decline's Lee's Suggestion of Armistice Negotiations

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 147

    General Grant obediently replies to Secretary of War Edward Stanton with repeated crossed out protestations that he was not trying to usurp any authority. He had previously written to Stanton to ask if he could accept General Lee's invitation to negotiate an armistice, and had received a rebuke from President Lincoln himself.
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    Benjamin Mordecai, Jewish Benefactor of Confederate Cause Honored by the Famed Palmetto Riflemen

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 148

    Benjamin Mordecai graciously responds to the soldiers of the Palmetto Riflemen, who had thanked him for his donation.
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    Ronald Reagan Writes About How Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto Joined the Polish Uprising Against the Nazis

    Autograph Letter Signed

    3 pages

    SMC 150

    Ronald Reagan denounces socialism to a correspondent abroad, and makes special mention of the atrocities committed by the socialism of the Soviets and the Germans during World War II. Reagan mentions that the Soviets held back whilst the Nazis slaughtered the Polish freedom fighters who were mostly, he mistakenly claims, Jews from the Ghetto.
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    Jewish Civil War Union Surgeon Morris Asch Rules on Another Surgeon's Exorbitant Bill

    Autograph Endorsement Signed

    6 pages

    SMC 157

    A Dr. McCoy, accused by the Surgeon General of charging exorbitantly for emergency services rendered, has had his bill cut in half. Asch rejects McCoy's appeal, and upholds the decision to reduce the bill.
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    Abraham Lincoln Appoints Henry Ernest Goodman as Surgeon of Civil War Union Volunteer Army

    Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 160

    President Abraham Lincoln promotes the eminent and beloved physician, Henry Ernest Goodman, of Philadelphia, from assistant surgeon to surgeon. Edward Stanton, the Secretary of war, co-signed the document.
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    Congressman Lincoln Praises Future Vice President of Confederacy for his Opposition to the Mexican War

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 161

    In 1848, Abraham Lincoln and Alexander H. Stephens were both Whig supporters of Henry Polk, and ardently against the Mexican War. Here, Lincoln praises Stephens. Thirteen years after their short-lived alliance, the country was embroiled in a civil war; Lincoln was President of the United States, and Stephens Vice President of the Confederacy.
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    In Refusing a Parole, Lincoln Notes That Federal Prisoners Are Being

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 162

    Here, Lincoln replies to a request from his wife Mary’s cousin, Lyman Todd, that he cannot "enlarge on parole" a Colonel Smith. Such a thing would set a precedent, he says, upon which nearly all the prisoners held by the Union might act – and this, in the face of how the Confederacy was treating Federal prisoners, is completely unacceptable.
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    Jewish Colonel Max Friedman Certifies an Enlistment into the Cameron Dragoons

    Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 166

    Jewish Colonel Max Friedman Certifies the enlistment of Joshua Pickering into the Cameron Dragoons, a largely Jewish regiment.
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    Union Soldier After Gettysburg:

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 168

    A letter from a Union soldier to his family after the battle of Gettysburg. He lists missing soldiers, and reports the numbers of dead, wounded, and missing.
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    Jewish Confederates: Letter Regarding Benjamin Mordecai's Support of a Commission for Jacob Valentine

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 181

    The secretary to the governor of South Carolina assures Charleston native Benjamin Mordecai that Jacob Valentine would be considered for a commission in service to the state. Mordecai had made possible South Carolina's secession from the Union with a generous donation.
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    David Ben-Gurion on Eisenhower:

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 189

    David Ben-Gurion recalls Dwight D. Eisenhower as a "lovely person," who wanted to help the Jews immediately after World War II, but was prevented from doing so by the British Foreign Office and the American State Department.
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    General Meade: Lee is Just 15 Miles Away and

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 190

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    Abraham Lincoln Endorses the Appointment of a Jewish Sutler, Henry Rice

    Autograph Note Signed

    1 page

    SMC 193

    Abraham Lincoln endorses General Alexander McClernand's pick for the position of sutler (a civilian merchant who sells goods to the army), Henry Rice.
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    Abraham Lincoln Queries the Surgeon General of the Army About an Appointment

    Autograph Endorsement Signed

    1 page

    SMC 209

    Lincoln asks William Alexander Hammond, the Surgeon General of the Union Army if a Mr. Bushnell should be appointed. Hammond replies in the affirmative, as there is a place for Bushnell at Louisville.
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    Three Days Before He is Assassinated, Abraham Lincoln Orders the Discharge of a Sickly Boy from the Army

    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.
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    Praising the United Jewish Appeal, FDR Mentions Suffering Brought on by the Nazis

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 249

    President Franklin D. Roosevelt writes a bland letter to the chairmen of the United Jewish Appeal, in which he scratches the surface of the Holocaust and rather hollowly endorses the UJA.
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    Alexander Hart's Civil War Sword and Scabbard, Presented Upon His Promotion to Captain

    Historical artifacts

    3 pages

    SMC 255

    Sword and Scabbard of Alexander Hart, a religious Jewish haberdasher who led the 5th Louisiana Infantry.
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    William Tecumseh Sherman Vents Anti-Semitic Prejudices, Discusses Runaway Slaves, & Sketches Total War

    Autograph Letter Signed

    4 pages

    SMC 259

    Writing during the war, Sherman casually blames smuggling and theft on Jews. Additionally, he depicts the hatred of the Southern population towards the North, justifying, presumably, his harsh conduct of war.
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    General Custer Gives an Order to His Loyal Adjutant Cooke, Who Would Die Next to Him at Little Bighorn

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 289

    This order to Cooke concerns another 7th Cavalry regular who also rode with Custer – though not as a friend. Major Lewis Merrill, with whom Custer had numerous run-ins, is alleged here to have taken some instruments belonging to the 7th Cavalry band: Cooke is tasked with making sense of what happened.
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    Prime Minister Winston Churchill on Orde Wingate: A Man of Genius Who Might Have Become a Man of Destiny

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 293

    On his way to the second Quebec conference, Winston Churchill remembers that a year ago, he, Orde, and Lorna Wingate were on their way to the first conference. Churchill offers his condolences to the newly-widowed Lorna.
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    Winston Churchill Thanks Ormsby-Gore for Accepting Post to the Permanent Mandates Commission

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 294

    Winston Churchill Thanks Pro-Zionist Ormsby-Gore for Accepting Post to the Permanent Mandates Commission Responsible for Palestine.
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    Letter From Gettysburg Battlefield, July 4th, 1863: Union Soldier Hopes

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 299

    Writing to his mother on the fourth of July, Private Strouss tells his her that he is alive, unharmed, and although unsure who has won, he hopes that "this Battle will end the war" so that he may return home.
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    David Ben Gurion Predicts That the Six Day War Will Not Be Israel's Last

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 302

    Ben-Gurion claims that as long as the USA and the USSR fight the Cold War by proxy in the Middle East - by arming Arab countries - there will be no peace in the region, and Israel will have to continuously fight for its survival.
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    Custer's Aide, Frederick Benteen, Takes the Oath of Office as Captain in the 7th Calvary

    Document Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 303

    Here Benteen, infamous for coming to Custer's aide too slowly at the Battle of Little Bighorn, steps into history, taking the Oath of Office as Captain in the 7th Cavalry.
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    Dr. Jacob de Silva Solis Cohen: A Scarce Civil War Autograph

    Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 307

    Promotion of war hero Lt. Commander James Kelsey Cogswell to Commander; signed by William McKinley on the first day of his second term as president.
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    Jewish General Edward S. Salomon Accepts an Invitation to Meet With His Old Comrades-in-Arms

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 308

    Edward S. Salomon was a hero of Gettysburg and Atlanta, rising through the ranks and eventually becoming a Brigadier General. He commanded a Jewish regiment, the 82nd Illinois, and here accepts an invitation "to meet the officers of the late Army of the Cumberland."
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    In 1936, As Hitler Closes In, Freud Acts to Help a Colleague's Son Who Has Been Charged With High Treason

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 314

    Sigmund Freud writes to support his friend Paul Federn, whose anti-fascist son has been arrested for the second time for high treason in Austria. Freud had previously lent his friend 3000 francs and insists that he accept the additional 2000 enclosed in the letter.
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    In 1942, Ensign J.F. Kennedy Requests Sea Duty on a PT Vessel:

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 343

    This document sent John F. Kennedy to sea during World War II, where he would become a celebrated hero after his boat sunk, and he swam three miles to shore dragging a shipmate to safety with his lifejacket between his teeth.
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    President Kennedy Sends General Maxwell Taylor to South Vietnam to Appraise the Situation

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 344

    Under pressure to send US ground troops to Vietnam, President John F. Kennedy plays for time by sending General Maxwell Taylor to South Vietnam to appraise the situation. Kennedy reminds Taylor that the "initial responsibility for the effective maintenance of the independence of South Viet-Nam rests with the people and government of that country."
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    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 347

    Lincoln's Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, pleaded with Lincoln not to go to Petersburg because of great personal risk to the President. Lincoln responds that he had already been to Petersburg with Grant, and plans to go to Richmond, newly fallen, as well. He assures Stanton that he will take care of himself.
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    Autograph Letter Signed

    3 pages

    SMC 349

    A subscriber of Leeser's periodical The Occident beseeches the publicly neutral Leeser to intervene with President Lincoln in order to end the Civil War.
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    Abraham Lincoln: A December 8 Oath of Allegiance

    Autograph Document Signed

    1 page

    SMC 352

    The Oath of December 8 was announced by Lincoln, on that day, in his annual message to congress in 1863. He would offer a pardon to any man who would swear, without coercion, his allegiance to the Union.
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    President Harry Truman Defends Atomic Bombing of Japan as

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 367

    Harry Truman defends his use of the atomic bomb, reasoning that the only language the Japanese understand is that of extreme force.
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    Theodore Roosevelt on the sinking of the Lusitania

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1278

    Theodore Roosevelt resented Woodrow Wilson's weak position on German naval aggression. Here, he unequivocally states that had Wilson shown some strong leadership and stood up to Germany, over 1000 civilians would not have lost their lives at sea.
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    Woodrow Wilson Lobbies for Ratification of the Treaty of Versailles - A Matter of Gravest Consequence

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1313

    This letter is an example of Woodrow Wilson's attempt to court Republican senators to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, of which he was one of the chief negotiators; Congress refused to ratify it.
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    Woodrow Wilson on How the Bodies of America's WWI Dead Are Handled Prior to Eventual Re-Burial in the US

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1320

    President Woodrow Wilson explains the process by which every fallen soldier is tagged and temporarily buried until their bodies can be brought to their final resting place in the United States.
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    Woodrow Wilson on the Emotional Impact WWI Has Had on Him - Which Led to His Devastating Stroke

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1321

    Woodrow Wilson confides that he doesn't read anything pertaining to World War One that "renews too deeply the emotions of wartime," as he is "too much affected and too upset by it."
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    President Franklin D. Roosevelt Fires His Isolationist Secretary of War During WWII

    Autograph Letter Signed

    3 pages

    SMC 1373

    After forgiving his old and dear friend many missteps, Franklin Roosevelt finally fires Harry Woodring as Secretary of War.
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    FDR Assures Fired, and Fired Up, Isolationist Secretary of War: No War Unless Monroe Doctrine is Breached

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1376

    President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, having just fired his Secretary of War, Harry Woodring, responds jovially to the latter's resignation letter. Roosevelt assures Woodring that the United States will maintain a non-interventionist policy with regards to World War II.
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    He's

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1406

    Truman initially regarded Kennedy as as young, inexperienced, and up for office because his father bought him the vote. Here, Truman supports Kennedy's handling of the Berlin crisis, which saw the city divided between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. Rather than seeing Kennedy's actions as weak, he praised the President's leadership in buying time with the Soviets in order to retain control of half the city.
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    A Ronald Reagan Photo in Front of the Berlin Wall, Inscribed With

    Signed Photograph

    1 page

    SMC 1471

    Autograph quote from Ronald Reagan on a photo of him in front of the Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg gate. The famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
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    Ronald Reagan Writes About Vietnam in 1968: A Change of Policy is Needed

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1476

    Ronald Reagan's draft of a letter to a Vietnam serviceman expressing his gratitude for his and other soldiers' service. Reagan calls for both a policy and leadership change, alluding to Johnson's handling of the war.
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    Lincoln Asks General Grant as a Friend, for a Favor: Find a Place for His Son, Robert, on His Staff

    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.
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    Lincoln is

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1554

    After just having heard that the union lost 1776 men in the Battle of the Wilderness, amongst other bad news, Lincoln was asked to give a sentiment for an autograph collector, Lincoln replied "I would give a sentiment, but just now I am not in a sentimental mood."
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    Secretary of Interior on Campaign to Stop German Annihilation of Jews -The Holocaust- During WWII

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1616

    Letter from the Secretary of the Interior of the United States, inviting friends to join a campaign to end the German annihilation of the Jews of Europe.
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    Jewish Confederate Hero Alexander Hart Grants Leave to Officers During a Brief Lull in the Civil War

    Document Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 1642

    Alexander Hart, a storied and battle-proven Major in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, directs and signs off on thirty-day leaves for officers.
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    President Herbert Hoover, on the Lessons to be Drawn from Abraham Lincoln's Life

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1654

    President Herbert Hoover, addressing a Lincoln biographer, suggests that Lincoln's greatness was not in winning a war, but in his conduct and attitude in victory.
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    Millard Fillmore on Civil War: Abolitionists Pervert Cause and Lincoln Tempts Tyranny

    Autograph Letter Signed

    3 pages

    SMC 1767

    Millard Fillmore accuses abolitionists of "destroying the Constitution" and attempting to "prevent a reunion of the states," in addition to "perverting this war into a war for emancipation."
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    Signed Photo of Edmund Allenby Entering Jerusalem

    Signed Photograph

    1 page

    SMC 1772

    In direct contrast to Kaiser Wilhelm II's entrance to Jerusalem on horseback, Edmund Allenby respectfully dismounted before entering the Holy City. He was the first Christian to rule Jerusalem in centuries.
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    Einstein on the Holocaust: He Never Forgot, Never Forgave

    Typed Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 1782

    Einstein declines an invitation to join Weltstaatliga (World State League), explaining that he can no longer participate in German public endeavors after the genocide of the Jews.
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    Albert Einstein Renounces German Citizenship;

    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.
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    Abraham Lincoln Exercises Clemency:

    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.
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    Theodore Roosevelt Lambasts Woodrow Wilson for Refusing to Let Him Lead a Division in World War I

    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."
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    Chaim Weizmann to Lorna Wingate on the Jewish Brigade:

    Autograph Letter Signed

    2 pages

    SMC 375

    Chaim Weizmann tells Lorna Wingate that the Jewish Brigade, and future army, is a long game, and will come with hard work and fortitude.
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    Chaim Weizmann in 1943:

    Autograph Letter Signed

    3 pages

    SMC 376

    Writing during World War Two, Chaim Weizmann assures Lorna Wingate that her husband Orde is on the mend after a bout of typhoid. In the interim, he comments that many things are happening in Palestine that would provoke the British, though he hopes they will not allow themselves to be provoked. It would be "nothing short of a miracle if we do get something out of this war," he ruefully remarks.
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    Chaim Weizmann Agrees to Stand as Godfather to Orde Wingate's Son

    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.
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    Chaim Weizmann on the Jewish Brigade and Jewish State in 1944

    Autograph Letter Signed

    3 pages

    SMC 379

    Chaim Weizmann writes to Lorna Wingate, the widow of Major-General Orde Wingate, to tell her that the British government finally approved the creation of the Jewish Brigade. Weizmann's feelings are mixed, though, as Wingate - who died five months earlier - would have made this Brigade "a powerful force."
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    Ben-Gurion Predicts Victory Under Dayan in 6-Day War; Discusses How Many Arabs Equal One Israeli Soldier

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 385

    Moshe Dayan is appointed minister of defence; Ben Gurion predicts that Israel will triumph over Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in the coming Six Day War.
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    Eisenhower's Trip to Ohrdruf Concentration Camp:

    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."
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    Rare, Seemingly Singular Evidence, That John F. Kennedy Knew How to Fly: His 1944 Flight Logbook

    Signed Book

    3 pages

    SMC 2074

    John F. Kennedy's flight logbook of 1944, in which he took ten solo lessons. No existent documentation exists to explain Kennedy's choice; an odd one, as just that year, he discouraged his brother Bobby from flying, and was growing increasingly anxious about the number of fatalities in his older brother Joe's aviation unit. Joe would be shot down later that year in a secret mission over France.
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    General Benjamin Butler: The Jews

    Autograph Letter Signed

    1 page

    SMC 2182

    General Butler, discussing the arrest of two Jewish blockade-runners, displays his notorious anti-Semitism.
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    Civil War 25-Cent Sutler Token From L. Goldheim of J.E.B Stuart's 1st Virginia Cavalry

    Historical artifacts

    1 page

    SMC 2234

    Lazarus Goldheim 25-cent token: Goldheim, hailing from Baltimore, was the sutler for the 1st Virginia Cavalry, one of the Confederacy's most celebrated fighting units.
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