Save Search Parameters
Clear All
Manuscripts (22)
SORT BY
Last Added
- Last Added
- Date Written
- A-Z
- Relevance

Young Congressman McKinley Regrets He is Unable to Attend Wedding of Simon Wolf’s Daughter: Mrs. McKinley Is Ill
June 12, 1878
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 640
Add to History Board
Share

President William McKinley Writes to the Widow of His Vice President and Dear Friend, Mrs. Hobart
March 8, 1900
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 915
In this letter, written four months after the death of his vice-president and dear friend, Garret Hobart, President McKinley thanks Mrs. Tuttle-Hobart for the gift of fruit, and for the wonderful time spent together with her and her son.
Add to History Board
Share

McKinley is Comforted to Learn That His Gravely-Ill Vice President is Improving - 5 Days Before Hobart Dies
November 16, 1899
Autograph Telegram Signed
1 page
SMC 916
This letter, in which President McKinley expresses his relief that Garret Hobart-his vice-president and dear friend-is on the mend, was written a mere five days before Hobart's health took a turn for the worse and he died.
Add to History Board
Share

Autograph Telegram Signed
1 page
SMC 917
Immediately after returning to Washington from visiting the ailing Garret Hobart in New Jersey, McKinley wires him to inquire after his health. Less than three months later, heart disease would finally claim Hobart's life.
Add to History Board
Share

Document Signed
1 page
SMC 1179
Commission for Second Lieutenant Earnest M. Reeve, signed by President William McKinley in December of 1899.
Add to History Board
Share

Autograph Note Signed
1 page
SMC 1182
Matthew D. Mann, the physician who tended to President William McKinley on his deathbed, confirms McKinley's fabled last words.
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

President William McKinley Orders Seal Affixed to His Proclamation on the Death of Vice President Hobart
November 21, 1899
Document Signed
1 page
SMC 1187
Death warrant of Vice President Garret Hobart, signed by his dear friend, President William McKinley.
Add to History Board
Share

Document Signed
1 page
SMC 1190
Document signed by President William McKinley two weeks before he was fatally shot.
Add to History Board
Share

Document Signed
1 page
SMC 1196
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.
Add to History Board
Share

William McKinley Invites Old Friend to Go with Him to His Gubernatorial Inauguration: "Don't fail me."
January 5, 1892
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1666
William McKinley urges his friend John Taylor and his wife to join him and his wife to travel together to McKinley's induction ceremony as Governor of Ohio. He would later call upon the same friends to accompany him to his inauguration as president.
Add to History Board
Share

Leon Czolgosz's Incredibly Rare Confession to the Assassination of President William McKinley
September 6, 1901
Document Signed
2 pages
SMC 1813
Czolgosz's twice-signed confession to assassinating President McKinley, stemming from anarchist convictions.
Add to History Board
Share

Incredibly Rare Czolgosz Letter – 5 Weeks Before He Assassinated McKinley – as "Fred Nobody"
July 30, 1901
Autograph Letter Signed
2 pages
SMC 1817
A rare and disjointed letter from Leon Czolgosz, ominously written in red ink, approximately five weeks before he would assassinate President William McKinley, signed as his alias, Fred C. Nieman.
Add to History Board
Share

President McKinley’s Secretary Cancels McKinley's Engagements "Owing to Mrs. McKinley's Serious Illness"
June 4, 1901
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 1861
McKinley’s devoted secretary, George Cortelyou regrets to cancel President McKinley's appearance at Harvard University, "owing to Mrs. McKinley's serious illness."
Add to History Board
Share

President William McKinley's Appointment of the Antisemitic Selah Merrill as Consul at Jerusalem
January 22, 1898
Document Signed
1 page
SMC 1879
President William McKinley reinstalls Selah Merrill as consul at Jerusalem. Merrill held the post for about thirty years prior to this, his last appointment, and was widely known to revile the Jews in the Holy Land.
Add to History Board
Share

Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 116
President McKinley's secretary, George Cortelyou thanks the Mayor of San Francisco on behalf of the McKinleys for all the help they received when Mrs. McKinley had taken ill out West.
Add to History Board
Share

On the Day of President McKinley's Death, Asst. Secretary of State Cridler Writes of His Horror and Fury
September 14, 1901
Autograph Letter Signed
4 pages
SMC 143
Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Wilbur Cridler expresses his anguish at President McKinley's death, and his rage at the assassin. Cridler, as a religious Christian, expresses difficulty conceiving of why God would allow this tragedy to happen.
Add to History Board
Share

Extraordinary Eyewitness Account of the Assassination of President McKinley-Dated One Day After
September 7, 1901
Typed Manuscript Signed
8 pages
SMC 183
De Benneville Randolph Keim, a Washington reporter, was standing right by McKinley when he was assassinated. He took an active role in responding, including carrying the mortally wounded president to an ambulance. This is his account of the assassination.
Add to History Board
Share

One of the Last Things Signed by William McKinley: A Souvenir Booklet from the Pan-American Exposition
September, 1901
Signed Book
16 pages
SMC 233
President William McKinley was assassinated on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo; it's very possible this souvenir booklet was the very last thing he signed.
Add to History Board
Share

Theodore Roosevelt Confidently Reports that the Mortally Wounded President McKinley is Doing Well
September 9, 1901
Typed Letter Signed
1 page
SMC 245
Roosevelt feels assured not only that McKinley will recover, but that his recovery will be so speedy that in a very short time he will be able to resume his duties.
Add to History Board
Share

White House Card
1 page
SMC 537
On January 29, 1898, his first birthday in the White House, President William McKinley, turning fifty-five, signed this Executive Mansion card.
Add to History Board
Share
More Results