1843

Prescott, William Hickling, 1796-1859

Book

Title: History of the Conquest of Mexico vol 4

Hill, p. 240, BAL 16340, Sabin 65262. The first American edition, second (corrected) printing. In original publisher's cloth. H. Bradley Martin's copy.

GLC00361.04

1903

Pamphlet

Title: Portraits of the Civil War Period "A partial list"

"Photographs for the most part from Life Negatives by M.B. Brady. Now in the possession of F. H. Meserve 265 Edgecomb Avenue New York City." This pamphlet is an itemized list of images from the Civil War period, owned at the time of printing by F.H. Meserve and available to the public in the form of reproductions. The images are itemized alphabetically in the following categories: Statesmen and Prominent Persons, Etc.; Union Officers; Union Naval Officers; Confederate Officers; Authors, Artists, Journalists.; Clergymen; Actors.; Actresses.; War Cartoons.; Cartoons by Nast.; Barnum's…

GLC05111.01.1383

1871

Book

Title: Walks about Richmond

Complete title: "Walks about Richmond, A story for boys, and a guide to persons visiting the city, desiring to see the principal points of interest, with an index showing the exact location of each point mentioned. (Illustrated.)" The guide is written in the form of a narrative told by a boy named Frank who travelled around the city with his Uncle Fred on a sight-seeing excursion. Included amongst the leaves are illustrations of St. John's Church, Libby Prison, and a photograph of Robert E. Lee.

GLC05111.01.1384

circa 1861-1865

Photograph

Title: Portrait photo of N. P. Willis [cabinet card]

Portrait of N. P. Willis seated with a cane and looking directly at the camera. Inscription on recto: "Rockwood 17 Union Square (West) N.Y." Inscriptions on verso: "N. P. Willis" and "Rockwood Photographer 17 Union Square (West) N.Y. 1890."

GLC05111.01.1335

1850s?

Porter, Noah, fl. 1850

Photograph

Title: Quarter plate daguerreotype in original gilt decorated leather case

A 1/4 plate daguerreotype. Youthful bust-length pose in academic robes. Porter was the president of Yale 1871-1886 and previously edited Webster's American Dictionary after the death of Chauncey Goodrich.

GLC06184

1855

Fuller, Margaret, fl. 1855

Book

Title: Woman in the nineteenth century, and kindred papers relating to the sphere, condition and duties of woman

Edited by her brother, Arthur B. Fuller. Introduction by Horace Greeley.

GLC06221

1845-1849

Porterfield, George A., 1822-1919

Diary

Title: Mexican War and post-war diary

Part one, crudely bound, includes vignettes about people Porterfield encountered, a pen and ink sketch of Rancho Buena Vista, and a rudimentary genealogy. Part two, unbound, begins in April 1848 and records his travels and activities after the war ends. Mentions being in love with Miss Ybarra and is saddened to leave. By September 1849 he has become the editor of the Gazette in Martinsburg and is studying to become a lawyer. He is relieved his wife, possibly Miss Ybarra, is enjoying living in the United States. Part three consists of a receipt, a list of deceased relatives, a note…

GLC06299

22 March 1865

French, George Z., fl. 1865

Newspaper

Title: Herald of the union. [Vol. 1, no. 20 (March 22, 1865)]

Union occupation newspaper with headline "News of the fall of Wilmington." Also: Postponement of the adjournment of the Confederate Congress, discussion of correspondence between General William T. Sherman and Confederate general Wade Hampton, reprint of an article by Horace Greeley on James Gordon Bennett, "Mrs. Lirripers Legacy," by Charles Dickens.

GLC06107.15

6 July 1863

Newspaper

Title: The black hawk chronicle. [Vol. 1, no. 5 (July 6, 1863)]

Siege of Vicksburg. A Southerner surrenders for whiskey. Many articles illustrate Army - Navy Rivalry. Prints poem Hiawatha.

GLC06107.23

1867

Brown, William Wells, 1815-1884

Book

Title: Clotelle; or the colored heroine. A tale of the Southern States.

Published by Lee and Shepard. Includes engraved plates. Previous documentation states this is the second American edition; the first edition was published in London. Clotelle is said to portray the daughter of Thomas Jefferson. Signed by Emily C. Taylor, presumably a prior owner of the volume. The author, Brown, was an enslaved person who sought refuge and abolitionist

GLC06113

1934

Cunard, Nancy, 1896-1965

Book

Title: Negro anthology made by Nancy Cunard 1931-1933

Published by Cunard at Wishart & Company in London, England. In the foreword, Cunard states "It was necessary to make this book ... for the recording of the struggles and achievements, the persecutions and the revolts against them, of the Negro people." Cunard's thorough and diverse work contains music, poetry, historical studies, discussions on racism, and reports on black culture in other countries, such as Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, and Africa, among many others. Includes essays by such notables as anthropologist and writer Zora Neale Hurston, philosopher Alain Locke, sociologist W.E.B.…

GLC06115

1773

Wheatley, Phillis, 1753-1784

Book

Title: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral

Poems written by the "Negro Servant" of John Wheatley of Boston. Printed at London by A. Bell and sold in Boston by Cox and Berry. First edition copy. The first book of poetry by an African American. Bound in nineteenth century vellum, with heraldic bookplate with the name "Stainforth." With frontispiece engraved portrait of Wheatley writing. Dedication to Countess of Huntington on 12 June 1773. Phillis Wheatley was brought from Africa at the age of seven or eight, taught to read and write (in the family), and eventually began to write poetry, as her master describes in the prefatory…

GLC06154

February 1864

Chase, George, fl. 1864

Broadside

Title: To the veterans of the Confederate army

Asking for the public, especially soldiers, to furnish written accounts of "incidents of remarkable daring in battle, endurance, sufferings, sacrifices and other trials in imprisonment, camp, hospital or marches." Says if contributors want to wait until after the war to have their items published, they should say so. Also says diaries will be returned upon request. Would especially like to receive items from Southern women, "the Spartan-spirited daughters of the sunny South." Says the women "are worthy [of] the loving praise of a great, chivalric race." Addressed on verso to "Capt. Wm S. Keen…

GLC05987.18

1862 - 1865

Turner, Joseph Addison, 1826-1868

Header Record

Title: The Countryman.

Magazine format. Literary digest with verse and wry comments. Vol. 3 nos. 1-3, 6-8, 11-12, and vol. 20 [sic] no. 2.

GLC05959.02

1844

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882

Pamphlet

Title: An address delivered in the court-house in Concord, Massachusetts, on 1st August, 1844, on the anniversary of the emancipation of the negroes of the British West Indies

Speech by Emerson attacking slavery, one of his earliest statements in support of abolition. First edition. Published by James Munroe and Company.

GLC05766

1899

Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt, 1868-1963

Book

Title: The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study

Du Bois's detailed study uses history and sociology to consider the social experience of African Americans in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Offers a comprehensive examination of black life, including migration, religion, crime, family, health, and education. Contains a preface by Du Bois and an introduction by Samuel McCune Lindsay, Professor of Sociology at University of Pennsylvania. Includes a map of the Seventh Ward following the introduction which indicates the distribution of African American inhabitants and their social condition. Contains a map facing page 60…

GLC05823

1864

American Anti-Slavery Society

Book

Title: Proceedings of the American Anti-Slavery Society, at its third decade, held in the City of Philadelphia, Dec. 3d and 4th, 1863.

Contain an appendix and a catalogue of anti-slavery publications in America from 1750-1863. Includes writings and/or speeches by William Lloyd Garrison (Anti-slavery Society President), Henry Ward Beecher, Stephen S. Foster, Abby Kelley Foster, Susan B. Anthony, Oliver Johnson, Lucy Stone, Frederick Douglass, and John Greenleaf Whittier, among others. Bound in yellow paper cover.

GLC05821

circa 1910

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910

Pamphlet

Title: The suppressed chapter of "life on the Mississippi"

Leaflet consisting of the suppressed chapter of Twain's book Life on the Mississippi, which was published in 1883. First edition. Marked as number 230 of 250 numbered copies of the first printing. Comparing Northern and Southern society, Twain discusses public indifference. Criticizes the tendency for Southerners to maintain similar opinions and to vote the same way. Opens by stating "I missed one thing in the South- African slavery. That horror is gone, and permanently ... half the South is at last emancipated, half the South is free. But the white half is apparently as far from…

GLC05847

5 November 1876

Ingraham, Linton S., 1856-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Alexander Hamilton Stephens

Ingrahm writes as a student at the University of Atlanta to Stephens, his former master. Saw Barner Shelgrin yesterday, as he promised Stephens he would, noting that Shelgrin is still on crutches and will be for seven or eight months. Of life as a student, writes, "I have to saw wood every morning, after breakfast one hour we have to work one hour evry day and two hour evry Saturday. we get tolerably fare eating up here not the findest [finest] and not worst... The class what Studies Latin will not commece [commence] until Chrismas..." Mentions Fannie and Ginny.

GLC05850

24 July 1786

Gardoqui y Arriquibar, Diego, 1735-1798

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Gardoqui writes, "A Lover of literature in our Spanish America desires me to send him such Books [as] are good & worth reading..." Seeks Knox's advice on what books to buy. Docket indicates that this letter was written 24 July 1786; a pencil note at the top of page one indicates the year as 1788. Docket states that this letter is from "D D de Gardoqui."

GLC02437.03946

7 July 1792

Gardiner, John, fl. 1791-1792

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Sends Knox a bit of writing which he has recently published. States that their mutual friend Samuel Breck also intended to send Knox a copy of the publication, but Gardiner offered to send it instead. Discusses sending copies to various people, as well as selling it.

GLC02437.05527

2 April 1786

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Gordon

Writes that he is unaware of a present being sent from the King of France to General George Washington; declares that Colonel Laurens received money and goods but he thought they had been purchased. Provides information about a wartime incident featuring General Washington and the Comte de Grasse (much of this section is crossed out). May have been verifying information for the Reverend Doctor Gordon's history of the war (see GLC02437.03248). See GLC02437.03258 for a legible copy of the section describing this incident.

GLC02437.03257

11 March 1786

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Gordon

Writes to Reverend Doctor William Gordon, a prominent Massachusetts minister and historian. Discusses a brigade of General Nathanael Greene's division, commanded by Brigadier General Weedon, that engaged with the British "at the close of the action at Brandywine." Explains that while Colonel Walter Stevens' s regiment fought gallantly, so did many others. Adds that he has tried to obtain information for Gordon's history but has been of limited success; refers him to General Greene, whose "information must be perfect on this subject." Also relates that many printers in Boston are upset to…

GLC02437.03247

4 September 1790

Gerry, Elbridge, 1744-1814

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Informs Knox of his travel plans and about adding subscribers to "Mrs. Warrens poems." Page two includes notes written in Knox's hand regarding what appears to be cargo on a vessel. Also includes calculations in an unknown hand.

GLC02437.04717

1856

Book

Title: Cherokee Bible [old testament]

Cherokee Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Wisdom and Isaiah) printed at Park Hill, Cherokee Nation, by Edwin Archer. Imprint date varies slightly since Exodus is dated 1853, Genesis 1856 and the rest undated. With manuscript notations in Cherokee.

GLC05122