Photograph of Main St., San Andreas, Showing Presidential Campaign Banners and Local Residents
by [California – Early Photography – Calaveras County – San Andreas] Photographer Unknown
California, 1892. Albumen photograph on board, very good contrast, mount near fine with minimal wear. A photograph of Main St. in San Andreas in 1892, showing banners for the Democratic ticket of Grover Cleveland and Adlai E. Stevenson and the Republican ticket of Benjamin Harrison and Whitelaw Reid hanging above the street. Despite Cleveland’s national victory, the Republican incumbent Harrison narrowly carried California’s electoral votes, as discontent—especially among farmers and laborers—boosted support for the People’s (Populist) Party in California,... Read More
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Highway Map of Oklahoma. “The Right Way.” Complete Road Information
by [Great Depression - Automobile Travel - Oklahoma] Author Unknown
Topeka, 1930. Folded map measuring 28 x 17 inches. Some small tears at folds, very good. Very Good. A scarce depression-era map of Oklahoma, with graphic advertisements to the verso showing the range of automobile-centric establishments in the state at the time. The map shows all the automobile routes of the time, with text along the borders listing the towns and the telephone numbers of various services and lodging options. The instructions on the the top read “Put... Read More
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Signed Carte-de-Visite of Gustav Knabe, Civil War Musician and Music Professor in Tennessee, c. 1870s
by [German-American Immigrants - Musicians] Photographer Unknown
Tennessee, 1870. Carte-de-visite photograph measuring 3 ¾ x 2 ⅜ inches on larger mount. Some foxing, very good overall, signed by Knabe as “Proff Knabe” on recto. Very Good. Gustav Knabe was born in Leipzig and formally educated in music in Germany before emigrating to the United States and serving as a “principal musician” in the Company H of the Second Regiment of the Ohio Heavy Artillery. Following the war he moved to Tennessee, where he worked as... Read More
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Vermont Asylum for the Insane, Founded A.D. 1834
by [Insanity] Photographer Unknown
Vermont, 1880. Albumen photograph. 15 ½ x 10 inches on a 19 x 14 inch cardstock mount. Very Good. A rare 19th century view of an insane asylum. The Vermont Asylum for the Insane, which later became the Brattleboro Retreat, was founded based on Quaker principles of moral treatment. The founder, Anna Hunt Marsh, was the first woman credited with starting a hospital for the mentally ill. The approach was based on English institutions such as The York... Read More
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Scrapbook of Material from Our Lady of Guadalupe in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, 1930s–1960s
by [Mexico – Catholicism] Unknown
Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, 1960. Scrapbook in album with string binding; twenty-two double-sided pages measuring 9 ¾ x 12 ¼ inches with some items not affixed. Pages delicate with marginal damage; items very good plus to excellent. Overall very good plus.. A scrapbook containing photographs, sacramental cards, programs, and clippings relating to various church functions at the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, between the 1930s and 1960s. The church was built next to the... Read More
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A Lengthy Letter Written to a Friend Describing a Fourth of July Spent in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1866, Describing a Parade of African-Americans Celebrating the Holiday and with Ruminations on the Author’s Love Life and Other Subjects
by [Reconstruction - South Carolina - African-American History] Author Unknown
Charleston, 1866. Autograph letter, signed by a John (last name unknown,) addressed to R.W. Grange Esquire at Racine College in Racine Wisconsin. Some tears at folds, near fine. Appx. 1,000 words. Fine. A lengthy and atmospheric rumination on a holiday spent in South Carolina by an author known only as Bob, written to a friend in Wisconsin. The author relates in great detail a Fourth of July spent in Charleston, South Carolina in 1866, with several interesting details... Read More
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![Effect of Earthquake + Fire on San Francisco, Apr. 18/06. [Series of Thirty-One Original Photographs Taken by an Unknown Photographer]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/622/164/1386164622.0.l.jpg)
Effect of Earthquake + Fire on San Francisco, Apr. 18/06. [Series of Thirty-One Original Photographs Taken by an Unknown Photographer]
by [San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906] Photographer Unknown
San Francisco, 1906. Thirty-one silver gelatin prints, measuring 4 x 3 inches, with four accompanying sheets measuring 8 x 5 ½ inches identifying the images. Also included is the original envelope to an illegible recipient, or possibly crediting the images. Fading to images else about fine, very good minus overall. Many photographers, amateur and professional alike, took to the streets of San Francisco to document devastation caused by the earthquake and subsequent fire of 1906. Collected here are thirty-one... Read More
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Letter Describing a Lonely Holiday Spent Cooking Alone, Cool Sulphurs, Arkansas, 1854
by [Women - Domestic Life - Race Relations] Author Unknown
Arkansas, 1854. Letter measuring 8 x 6 ½ inches. Some slight tears at folds, near fine. Fine. An interesting letter written by a woman to her sister after spending a holiday by herself without domestic help. The author quotes a passage from Marion Harland’s poem “”Alone,” and laments her holiday spent alone. She writes: “Mother gave the D—--- free ticket and it was either work or starve, so into the kitchen I went. I like the preliminaries... Read More
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Archive of Charles Colt Yates, Engineer and Captain with the US Coast & Geodetic Survey in the US, Europe, and the Philippines, 1870s–1940s
by [US Coast and Geodetic Survey – History of Science – Case Western Reserve University] Yates, Charles Colt; Pritchett, Henry Smith; Tittman, Otto H.; Staley, Cady; Mendenhall, Thomas C.; Michaelson, Albert A.; et al.
United States, France, and Germany, 1940. Approximately 469 total items. Fifty-nine pieces of loose correspondence, one with four photographs affixed. In large letter album, approximately 199 pieces of written material: 118 pieces of incoming correspondence, twenty-one drafts of outgoing correspondence, and sixty other. 139 photographs: nine cabinet cards, thirty-three smaller mounted or framed photos, eleven CDVs or tintypes, nineteen in small photo album, sixty-six loose photographs, and one real photo postcard. Eight pieces of loose miscellaneous written material totaling... Read More
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Six Press Photographs of the US Forest Service’s Attempts to Fight Wildfires, Early 20th Century
by [US Forest Service – Wildfires] Gilliams Service; Brown Brothers; Duthie, G.A.
Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota; Pike National Forest, Colorado; and unknown locations, 1920. Six photos: three 4 x 6 inch, two 4 ¾ x 6 ½ inch, and one 4 x 6 ½ inch. One dated May 7, 1911. One with editorial overpainting recto. Five with typed captions affixed to bottom, one with caption printed verso. Slight damage to edges, excellent contrast, overall excellent to near fine.. Six photographs showing firefighters and USFS rangers at work preventing... Read More
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Archive of Photographs Taken in Physical Culture City
by [Utopias] [Physical Culture Movement] [McFadden, Bernarr] Physical Culture City
Physical Culture City, 1905. First Edition. Physical Culture City, Spotswood, New Jersey, 1905 or later. Thirty-one images in total, varying sizes, most 3 x 5 inches or smaller. Fair to Good. Bernarr Macfadden was a proponent of Physical Culture, a movement combining exercise with nutrition and ascetic living that helped give rise to bodybuilding culture. The movement had origins in the mid nineteenth century in Germany, the United Kingdom and eventually America. Macfadden’s system gained popularity largely through... Read More
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1793 Letter from Rev. Isaac Robbins to His Parents Concerning Smallpox, Attacks by Indigenous Peoples, and Sin
by [Virginia – West Virginia – Religion – Indigenous- Euro-American Conflicts] Robbins, Isaac
Charlestown, Ohio County, Virginia (now Brooke County, West Virginia), 1793. Single two-page letter measuring 7 ½ x 12 ½ inches. Folded with small tears at folds, some holes intersecting with text; overall excellent.. A letter from Isaac Prince Robbins (1770–1846) in what is now West Virginia to his parents Rev. Chandler Robbins (1738–1799) and Jane Prince (1740–1800) in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Isaac Robbins was likely teaching in the area, as he mentions the “price of my school” and that... Read More
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“Instructions for Using John W. Barnett’s Patent Process for Curing Leaf Tobacco.”
by [Virginia – Tobacco Industry] Barnett, John W.
Big Spring, Virginia, 1879. Handbill measuring 8 ¾ x 11 ¾ inches. Marginal damage, especially to top; marked in pencil at top left; very good.. A handbill describing a process for curing tobacco, patented in 1879 by John W. Barnett of Big Spring, a town in northern Virginia. Tobacco has long been a hugely important cash crop in the region; in 1860, Virginia was the top tobacco producer in the United States by a large margin. During the... Read More
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1924 Felt Pennant likely from Saint Paul’s College, a Virginia HBCU
by [African-Americana – HBCUs – Virginia]
United States, 1924. Felt pennant measuring 15 ½ x 43 inches. Inscribed “Hilda Colthroy” on tag. Toned with many small holes; very good minus.. A felt pennant likely from Saint Paul’s College, an HBCU in Lawrenceville, Virginia. The college was founded in 1888 as Saint Paul Normal and Industrial School by Protestant Episcopal priest James Solomon Russell. Accredited in the 1920s, it contributed a large percentage of elementary and secondary school teachers to Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland.... Read More
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Lengthy Soldier’s Letter Written in the Aftermath of the War of 1812, Discussing Personal Expenses Incurred During the Formation of a Company During the Conflict
by [War of 1812 - Soldier’s Correspondence] Crawford, D.
Fort Richmond, 1815. Single page, bifolium, 15 x 9 ½ inches. One area of loss measuring roughly an inch square and affecting the final paragraph of the letter, else about fine. Circular New York stamp with manuscript rate at the war rate of 25 ½ cents. An uncommonly detailed letter written by a Captain D. Crawford of the 46th Infantry to Colonel Charles K. Gardner, detailing his career in the army and asking Gardner to advocate on his behalf... Read More
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Activities Commission & Kuumba Weusi Watu Present… Cultural Experience Weekend
by [African-Americana – Music – Dance – College Students] SUNY Geneseo Activities Commission; Kuumba Weusi Watu
Geneseo, New York, 1973. Approximately 18 x 24 inches. Slightly toned; near fine. Large newspaper advertisement for “Cultural Experience Weekend” at State University of New York, Geneseo, organized by the Activities Commission and Kuumba Weusi Watu, presumably student interest groups. Speakers include Dr. Charles Hurst, then President of Malcom X College in Chicago, and Geneseo student Maurice Odine, who would become a communications scholar and consultant to the United Nations. Performers include legendary soul-funk groups Kool and the... Read More
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In Every Government on Earth There is Some Trace of Human Weakness
by Weege, William
Happening Press, 1967. Fine. A particularly fine example of one of several posters printed at Happening Press in Berkeley as part of William Weege’s Peace is Patriotic series. A nude is paired with a Thomas Jefferson quote and an anti-war pin.
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![Charley Young. [Supplied Title]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/752/436/1515436752.0.l.jpg)
Charley Young. [Supplied Title]
by [Chinese-Americans - Photography - American West]
American West, 1890. Cabinet Card measuring 5 ½ x 4 inches on larger mount. Identification on ink verso. Some fading, very good. Very Good. A photograph of a Chinese man on horseback in western attire, possibly taken in Oregon or California in the 1890s. A search of genealogical and newspaper records yield results for one or possibly two Charley Youngs of Chinese descent living in the United States during the period. We find a record of a Charley... Read More
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![The Girl Who Dared. [1920]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/568/159/1722159568.0.l.jpg)
The Girl Who Dared. [1920]
by [Western Americana – Film – Women] [Sterling, Edythe] Unknown Artist
United States, 1920. Painted poster with affixed photograph, measuring 14 x 21 inches. Toned, with water damage and slight damage to edges; very good to excellent.. A painted poster advertising the 1920 film The Girl Who Dared, a Western directed by Clifford Smith and starring Edythe Sterling. The story follows Barbara Hampton, a rancher’s daughter who is elected sheriff of a small town and must take on the cattle rustlers who are after her father. Sterling, born Edith... Read More
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Cabinet Card Portrait of a Family in St. Paul, Minnesota, with One Man Holding a Violin and Another Carrying a Revolver, 1890s
by [Western Americana - 19th Century ] Haynes, Frank Jay
St. Paul, 1889. Cabinet card portrait measuring 5 ½ x 4 inches on larger mount. Fine condition with great contrast. Fine. A striking portrait of a family taken by F. Jay Haynes in his St. Paul studio, taken after 1889 when he opened it, his last studio of his career. A family sits together, one man holding a violin, another with a revolver visible at his side.
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Portrait of an Affluent Man, Fargo, Dakota Territory, 1879
by [Western Americana – Photography] Haynes, Frank J.
Fargo, Dakota Territory, 1879. Cabinet card photograph measuring appx, 4 x 5 ½ inches, on larger mount. Very good plus.. An early studio portrait by Frank Jay Haynes, taken during his initial establishment in Fargo, Dakota Territory, shortly after his 1879 move from Moorhead. The mount—“Art Studio, cor. 8th Ave. & Main St.”—appears to represent Haynes’s first, likely short-lived location in the city, set just off the main commercial corridor before he relocated his business to the more... Read More
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Four Mounted Photographs of Deadwood and Lead City, South Dakota
by [Western Americana - Photography] Locke, Henry Robinson
Deadwood: H.R. Locke, 1890. Albumen photographs measuring 9 x 7 inches on larger mounts. Very good contrast, some chips and wear to mounts. Very Good. A group of four photographs by Henry Robinson Locke, who operated a studio in Deadwood, South Dakota in the early statehood years. He photographed the Black Hills region. This collection of four photographs shows a gold mill in Deadwood, a cyanide mill in Deadwood, and two views of Lead City, which was the... Read More
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A Series of Twenty-Five Mounted Photographs of Travel in the Southwest and Mexico, Likely by a N.E.A. Delegate, c. 1905
by [American Travel - Western]
V.P., 1905. Twenty five silver gelatin photographs measuring 3 ⅜ square on slightly larger mounts. Slight fading to images, excellent overall. Very Good. A collection of travel photographs, most captioned, likely taken by a N.E.A. delegate on a 1905 tour of the Southwest which ended in San Antonio, and also including some photographs taken in Mexico in a presumed continuation of those travels. Several images mention delegates, one sign on the side of a train car reads “welcome... Read More
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The Klondike March of the Gold Miners
by [Western Americana – Alaska – Klondike Gold Rush – Lithography] Teller, Robert [lithographer]; Metz, Theo
New York: Willis Woodward & Co, 1897. Folio sheet music, complete. Illustrated color lithograph title page by Robert Teller. Covers detached, contents complete, good, with lithographed cover in particularly bright and attractive condition.. Sheet music issued at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush, capitalizing directly on the surge of public interest following the discoveries in the Yukon in 1896–1897. The lithographed title page, signed in style by Robert Teller, shows a dramatic scene of prospectors working a... Read More
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Album of 132 Photographs showing Scenery from Western American National Parks, with Many Realphoto Postcards by Noted Photographers including Blackfeet Photographs by T.J. Hileman
by [Western Americana] [National Parks] [Blackfeet] Hileman, T.J.; Haynes, Frank J.; Jacobs, Frank, et al.
Various Places, 1920. Oblong folio, cloth over cardstock, 15 x 11 inches. Photographs and realphoto postcards, most measuring around 5 x 3 1/2 inches, mounted to pages. The system of national parks was created at first in a somewhat piecemeal fashion, with the Department of the Interior holding responsibility for establishing each park individually. Chief White Calf of the Blackfeet famously negotiated the sale of the bulk of the lands that would form Glacier National Park in 1895, with... Read More
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