12 June 1865

Holden, William Woods, 1818-1892

Broadsheet

Title: [Proclamation establishing a provisional government in North Carolina]

Proclamation establishing a provisional government in North Carolina, in which Holden directly addresses the "colored people of the State." Issued by Holden, the first man to be appointed as a provisional governor of any state east of the Mississippi; also includes the printed name of his son and private secretary, Joseph William Holden. Issued a month and a half after Joseph E. Johnston's formal surrender. Includes a declaration stating "To the colored people of the State I would say, you are free ... It now remains for you, aided as you will be by the superior intelligence of the white…

GLC05082

circa 1915

Edwards, Jack, fl. 1915

Printed document

Title: [Instructions for house managers for the showing of David W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation"]

Contains spaces for house managers to fill in information, including performance or film dates, company arrival and departure times, and manager names. Jack Edwards, a Southern Representative of the performance or film, instructs theater house managers regarding technical details, such as oiling the projection machines and tuning house pianos. States "Please bear in mind that NEGROES MUST NOT BE ADMITTED TO 'THE BIRTH OF A NATION' under any circumstances." The back of this document includes a list of names and mathematical calculations written in pencil. Edwards' permanent address is…

GLC05091

circa 1861-1865

Photograph

Title: Reconstructing Charleston [split stereocard]

Image of the reconstruction of Charleston, with burnt-out and bombed-out buildings evident, and what appears to be a church steeple surrounded by scaffolding. Graphite inscription on verso: "Meeting dr. Charleston, SC." Numeric notation on verso: "257."

GLC05111.01.1188

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

1866

Pamphlet

Title: The New Orleans riot. Its official history.

Opens with the statement "It was no Riot- It was an Absolute Massacre by the Police- A Murder Perpetrated by the Mayor." Includes dispatches pertaining to the riot from Albert Voorhies, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana; Andrew Herron, Louisiana Attorney General; President Andrew Johnson; Edward Davis Townsend, Assistant Adjutant General; Edwin McMasters Stanton, Secretary of War, and General Ulysses S. Grant, among others. Contains newspaper reports on the event from the New York Tribune and the New York Times. The final page contains a Tribune report stating "We must convince the SOUTH…

GLC06232.08

1865

Claxton, James S., fl. 1865

Pamphlet

Title: The African's right to citizenship.

Printed by James S. Claxton. With original blue wrappers. Stitched as issued. Covers "The right of individuals of any race, subject to a well-defined limitation, to inhabit the country of their choice." and "The inconsistency of a Democracy which excludes them from citizenship for any other cause than their inability to exercise the privilege of the elective franchise with discretion."

GLC06232.14

December 1870

Arkansas. Supreme Court.

Manuscript document

Title: [Gideon Pillow v. Brown & Childress as executor of John Pointer, appeal from Philips Circuit Court]

Supreme Court of Arkansas case. Involves Pointer's sale of 85 slaves to Pillow on 28 December 1860. Discusses the legitimacy of enforcing slavery related cases. Focuses on unpaid debt, and interest on unpaid debt, that might have accrued during the course of the Civil War. Cites an earlier precedent from the 18th century: "This question first arose in the United States shortly after the War of 1776 and it was held that on contracts made before the War, when the parties belong within the opposing forces, that the debt was suspended and that interest did not run (accrue) unless the creditor…

GLC06244

12 August 1876

Mosby, John S., 1833-1916

Pamphlet

Title: Letters of Col. Mosby and John Tyler Jr.

Reprints a letter from Mosby to a former confederate comrade in reply to one urging him to support the democratic candidate in the presidential election of 1876, Samuel Tilden. Mosby writes that he will support Republicans Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler. "I thought you knew that I ceased to be a Confederate soldier about eleven years ago, and became a citizen of the United States... the reconstruction measures necessarily divided parties in the South on a color line, for the issue they presented was the political equality of the races." Also includes a letter entitled, "An…

GLC06076

1865

North Carolina, Constitutional Convention

Broadside

Title: An ordinance prohibiting slavery in the State of North Carolina.

Ordinance No. 16, introduced by Mr. Settle. Declares, "... it is hereby declared and ordained, That Slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than for crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby forever prohibited within the State."

GLC06079

1 September 1863

Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1818-1893

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Cook Conklin

In a working draft of a telegram, General Butler responds to an invitation to a convention of Union supporters in Springfield, Illinois from Conkling, a judge active in state politics. Discussing the Civil War, states "Compromises are impossible save between equals in rights-- Reorganization or reconstruction is alone useful where vicious parts are to be left out. Amnesties are for individuals not for organized communities ... " Marked as a telegram. Contains a handwritten note in faded red ink on the first page labeling the document as copied. This telegram cites Conkling's name as "…

GLC06089

7 March 1866

Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878

Letter signed

Title: to James Wilson Grimes

Written in secretarial hand and signed by Secretary of the Navy Welles to Grimes, U.S. Senator from Iowa who chaired the Committee on Naval Affairs. Wants to "invite your attention" to the estimate submitted last November to provide for the deficiency in the appropriation for the re-establishment of the Naval Academy at Annapolis and its support for the fiscal year starting 30 June 1866. Says it appears to have been overlooked. Says the money is needed badly because it has already been expended or obligations incurred to spend it. Also wants 20,000 dollars to erect a building at the academy…

GLC05997

4 March 1865

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Broadside

Title: The Inaugural address of President Abraham Lincoln delivered at the National Capitol, March 4, 1865.

Contemporary printing of Lincoln's second inaugural address. Printed in dark blue ink. Title is in large, bold type with the text of the address in double columns underneath.

GLC06044

20 May 1865

Seddon, James A. (James Alexander), 1815-1880

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Andrew Johnson

Seddon thanks Johnson for pardoning him. Seddon was the longest lasting Confederate Secretary of War.

GLC06011

16 April 1883

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Pamphlet

Title: Address by Hon. Frederick Douglass, delivered in the Congregational Church, Washington, D.C., April 16, 1883 : on the twenty-first anniversary of emancipation, in the District of Columbia.

"What Abraham Lincoln said in respect of the United States is as true of the colored people as of the relations of those States. They cannot remain half slave and half free. You must give them all or take from them all. Until this half-and-half condition is ended, there will be just ground of complaint... Until the colored man's pathway to the American ballot box, North and South, shall be as smooth and safe as the same is for the white citizen, this discussion will go on..." Bound in a light blue cover.

GLC06116

23 November 1865

Cannon & Holden (printers)

Newspaper

Title: Daily North Carolina standard. [Vol. 1, no. 187 (November 23, 1865)]

Georgia Convention Speech of Joshua Hill, Wade Hampton to the People of South Carolina. Unionist newspaper. Masthead quotes Webster: "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable."

GLC05959.30

1872

Book

Title: Proceedings in the Klu Klux Klan trials at Columbia, S.C. in the United States circuit court, November term, 1871.

Published by the Republican Printing Company, State Printers. Contains detailed court proceedings regarding cases of Klan members versus the United States. Index, beginning on page 1 following page 835, organizes the book by case, noting the names of participating defense and prosecution. No creator is listed, though the title page indicates that this book was printed from government copy. The initials B.P. and L.F.P. follow a brief introduction. First edition.

GLC05929

circa 1925

Ku Klux Klan

Pamphlet

Title: The Klan in action leadership responsibilites organization methods: a manual of leadership for officers of local klans.

Published by American Printing & Manufacturing Company. Contains detailed instructions on leadership, Klan policies, and local Klan organization for officers. Begins by stating "The one human quality which, more than any other, makes a man stand out above his fellows, which can make him most useful to himself, his brother men, his country and his God, is the power of leadership." First edition.

GLC05930

20 September 1866

Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875

Document signed

Title: [Presidential pardon of S.S. Lee for offenses arising from the rebellion]

This document is a Presidential pardon of S.S. Lee for offenses committed during the Civil War. It is filled out and signed by Andrew Johnson as President and countersigned by William H. Seward as Secretary of State. Accompanied by a white seal.

GLC05782

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

15 August 1865

Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1818-1893

Letter signed

Title: to William Martin Dickson

Butler, a Union General and Radical Republican, discusses Jacob Dolson Cox's views on creating separate states for former slaves. Informs Dickson, a Republican judge and political figure in Ohio, that "The supposition that the negro can be segregated on a given portion of this country apart from the white man in a separate community occupying a part of our Sea Board, whether as a dependency or an independency, to say nothing of constitutional objections is simply absurd ..." Discusses pride of race, the failings of Native American reservations in Georgia, and the views of Clement Laird…

GLC05872

1865

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Map signed

Title: Military Map Showing the Marches of the United States Forces Under Command of Maj. Genl. W.T. Sherman, U.S.A. During the Years 1863, 1864, 1865

Black and white map ranging from Missouri to Maryland in the north and Louisiana to Georgia in the south. Sherman's routes are outlined in red, blue, green, yellow and brown. Compiled according to Sherman's order by Brevet Major W.L.B Jenney, and drawn by Captain William Kossak, Addl. A.D.C. U.S.A., and John B. Muller, draughtsman. Engraved by H.C. Evans and F. Courtenay. Printed in St. Louis by Joseph F. Gedney. and signed by Sherman in pencil: "With compliments of W.T. Sherman" on 21 September 1868.

GLC07086.01

circa 7 March 1873

Townsend, E. D. (Edward Davis), 1817-1893

Letter signed

Title: to Benjamin Franklin Butler

Townsend, United States Adjutant General, replies to a letter from Butler, who served as a General in the Civil War. Informs Butler that in the Civil War, 7,122 African American men served as officers, and 178,975 served as enlisted men, for a total of 186,097. Docketed by Butler, who states that James A. Cunningham, Adjutant General of Massachusetts, had requested the information Townsend supplied. Also docketed 11 March 1873 by Cunningham, who states that the information was transmitted to Massachusetts State Representative J. B. Smith. Includes an Adjutant General's Office stamp.…

GLC07200

circa February 1873

Arkansas. General Assembly. House of Representatives

Printed document

Title: ["AN ACT: To Protect all Persons in Their Civil Rights, in the State of Arkansas and to Furnish Means for Their Vindication" with endorsements by Charles Sumner and John H. Johnson]

Back page contains an undated autograph note signed by John H. Johnson, an Arkansas state congressmen. Johnson's note states "Sir, happy am I to inform you that this bill pass [sic] both house [sic] by a handsome majority and I now submit the same to you for your opinion of the bill." Followed by an undated autograph endorsement from Sumner stating "I shall never be satisfied until there is one National Act placing all under one & the same equal safeguard. Why will not [Mass] press for it?" Content of the act establishes equal transportation costs for all persons regardless of race,…

GLC07202.01

14 December 1872

Chase, Thomas N., fl. 1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Charles Sumner with Sumner's autograph endorsement signed

Chase, a professor at Atlanta University, updates Sumner on the condition of African Americans in Georgia. States that "[t]he opposition to the elevation of the colored people is becoming more & more intense. 'I don't want a nigger to know more than I do' is the general sentiment." Reports that in Georgia, African Americans are excluded from the benefit of agricultural scrip. States that Joseph Emerson Brown, Chairman of the Atlanta Board of Education, does not support African American schools as much as he supports white schools. He indicates that black students only get female…

GLC07202.02