February 11, 1866

Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Wilson

Replies to a letter Wilson wrote when Garrison discontinued publication of the Liberator, his anti-slavery newspaper. Writes that he so values Wilson's letter, he will ask his children to preserve it with other valuable autographs and memorials. Declares "I have certainly lived to see the most astonishing revolution in the feelings and sentiment of a people, of which history makes any record; breaking the yokes and fetters of millions... abolishing a system of oppression as seemingly impregnable as it was fiendishly cruel, abasing the proud and lifting up the lowly... For the humble share I…

GLC08888

18 May 1883

Lee, John F., 1813-1884

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Jackson Hunt

States "I say you are still fit for the tented field; full pay; and to hold your own with any hero or patriot of them all (even with Cullum- I will tell you, someday, why I put him first)." Scolds Hunt for going to Little Rock, Arkansas because Little Rock's climate is too warm. Encourages Hunt to come to Washington, D.C. Mentions Humphreys (possibly Andrew Atkinson Humphreys), Hunt's gout, and Blair's pills for gout. Discusses mutual acquaintances, the repercussions of the Civil War, and emancipation. Referring to economics, remarks "I know that the Yankee meant right. He stole &…

GLC02382.098

circa 1880-1890

Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912

Print

Title: Free Negroes in the North

Depicts a scene of urban depravity. Volck is seeking to convey the hypocrisy of the North when it comes to the plight of blacks. The focal point of the sketch is a well-dressed white man who may be Henry Ward Beecher, a leader in the antislavery movement and pastor of a congregation in near Brooklyn, New York. Despite his finery, Beecher does not offer monetary help to the emaciated beggar clothed only in rags: he merely drops a religious "tract" to him with a gloved hand. On the other side of a fence, another white man looks through his purse to pay two grave robbers for a corpse. All of…

GLC00493.26

circa 1863

unknown, fl. 1863

Cabinet Card

Title: Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence

One undated cabinet card of a portrait of Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence, a five-year-old girl who was emancipated from indentured servitude.

GLC09841.01

circa 1864

Paxson, Charles, fl. 1864

Cabinet Card

Title: Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence

One undated cabinet card of a portrait of a girl by a mirror. Text on card reads, "A Slave Girl from New Orleans." Reverse side details the photographer's name, Charles Paxson and that proceeds from purchases of these photographs will go to the education of "Colored People in the department of the Gulf."

GLC09841.02

1863

Kimball, Myron H., fl. 1863-1865

Cabinet Card

Title: Rosa, an Emancipated Slave, from New Orleans

One cabinet card of a portrait of a girl dated 1863. Text on card reads, "Rosa, an Emancipated Slave, from New Orleans." Also include is the name of the photographer, "Kimball."

GLC09841.03

1863/09/09

Bogart, Abram, fl. 1825-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his wife re: siege and fall of Fort Wagner

Transcript available.

GLC02970

1864/02/01

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Letter signed

Title: to Edwin M. Stanton

Transport to return black colonists from Haiti. The colonists were freed slaves. In 1862, 450 African Americans were recruited to settle on the Island of Vache, off the coast of present-day Haiti. Small pox and mismanagement by a white government-appointed manager contributed to the colony's failure. The transport ship dispatched by President Lincoln picked up only 368 survivors.

GLC03973

1907/06/04

Mosby, John S., 1833-1916

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Sam Chapman

Scathing response to reunion speeches, especially one minimizing slavery's role in the war. Includes brief account of the Southern defense of slavery prior to the war, noting that he did not approve of slavery; rather, it was inherited as an institution: "I am as not honored of having fought on the side of slavery --a soldier fights for his country --right or wrong-- he is not responsible for the political merits of the course he fights in. The South was my country." [transcript available.]

GLC03921.21

1861/03/16

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Letter signed

Title: Transmittal of a proposed amendment to protect slavery (c/s Seward)

Sending a proposed amendment to Governor to John Downey of California. "I transmit an authenticated copy of a Joint Resolution to amend the Constitution of the United States, adopted by Congress and approved on the 2d of March, 1861, by James Buchanan, President. I have the honor to be, your excellency's obedient servant, Abraham Lincoln."

GLC05631

1865/05/06

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

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Salmon P. Chase re: argument against accepting the negro as an equal

"I am not yet prepared to receive the Negro on terms of political Equality for the reason that it will arouse passions and predjudices of the North, which...might rekindle the war whose fires are now dying out and by skillful management may be kept down." Written aboard the Steamer "Russia" in Branford Harbor.

GLC07680

1909/02/12

Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915

Typed document

Title: Speech draft re: influence of Lincoln, given at New York Republican Club of NYC

Original draft of speech: "I was born a slave...my first recollection of Abraham Lincoln was...by the prayers of my mother...as she was kneeling over my body earnestly praying that Abraham Lincoln might succeed and that one day she and her boy might be free"; with autograph corrections.

GLC07232

1870 ca.

Photograph

Title: Frederick Douglass

With printed title "Fred[.] Douglass." on front, and gold printed border (where the photograph would normally be placed) on verso. Dark, rich image. No imprint. This image was used by the engraver Ritchie for a silhouette bust portrait of Douglass (see collateral to GLC 2474).

GLC06198

1865/05/22

Orme, William W., 1832-1866

Printed document signed

Title: Agreement of registry

Signed by Orme and Isham G. Bailey; and by John C. Holland as a witness. Approved by C.C. Washburne as major general commanding and by his AAG, Major [W.H. Mayer?], brevet brigadier general. Bailey registers his plantation in an agreement made with Special Treasury Agent Orme regarding "abandoned and confiscable lands and the employment and general welfare of Freedmen." Accompanied by a 7-page print document, "Freedmen: regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury…Providing for the Employment and General Welfare of all Persons within the Lines of National Military Occupation with…

GLC04522.07

1865/08/07

Printed document signed

Title: [Oath of allegiance]

An oath of allegiance pledging to defend the Constitution of the United States, the union of the states, and to abide by all laws passed to emancipate slaves. The document is signed by Isham Bailey and witnessed by Andrew B. Conly. With 5-cent revenue stamp. Partially printed.

GLC04522.08

12 Feburary 1883

Powell, George May, 1835-1905

Autograph document signed

Title: [George May Powell agrees to relinquish a contract]

GMP agrees to relinquish a contract concerning four maps and publication of maps with Cochrane.

GLC00687.260

February 20, 1896

International Arbitration Council

Printed document signed

Title: International Arbitration Memorial

The undersigned men, under the direction of George May Powell, support an international arbitration first between the U.S. and Britain, and later with other nations. The memorial is directed toward the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee

GLC00687.146