Thomas Jefferson's drawing of a macaroni machine and instructions for ...
Reproduction number: A30 (color slide); LC-MSS-27748-180 (B&W negative) Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), principal author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, acquired a tas... More
Letter, Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker expressing his belief th...
Reproduction number: A54 (color slide); LC-MSS-27748-21 (B&W negative) While serving as secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), one of Virginia's largest planters and slaveholders, wrote this 30 Augus... More
Letter, John Adams to federal department heads ordering the relocation...
Reproduction number: A29 (color slide); LC-MSS-87668-1 (B&W negative) John Adams (1735-1826), second president of the United States, wrote this 15 May 1800 letter to the heads of the various federal departments... More
Subpoena served on Thomas Jefferson to testify at Aaron Burr's trial f...
Reproduction number: A19 (color slide) Although relationships between presidents and their vice-presidents have often been strained or at best perfunctory, the situation between Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and... More
Letter, Thomas Jefferson to William Plumer regarding the Dartmouth Col...
Reproduction number: A53 (color slide) Shortly after being elected governor of New Hampshire in 1816, William Plumer (1759-1850), a former United States senator, sought to transform the administration of the st... More
Henry Clay's appointment as secretary of state, 7 March 1825
Reproduction number: A23 (color slide) In the presidential campaign of 1824 the candidates were John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), Henry Clay (1777-1852), William Harris Crawford (1772-1834), and Andrew Jackson (17... More
Manuscript map, probably made by a French voyageur, of Indian lands of...
Reproduction number: A120 (color slide); LC-MSS-39115-7 (B&W negative) This map of Wisconsin river valleys, probably made by a French voyageur, was carried by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864), the author, eth... More
"Plan of the Ancient Works at Marietta, Ohio," by Charles Whittlesey, ...
Reproduction number: A111 (color slide) The multitalented Ephraim George Squier (1821-1888) had an unusual and varied career as journalist, diplomat, and archaeologist. Relatively early in life and in collabora... More
John C. Calhoun's speech to the United States Senate against the Compr...
Reproduction number: A20 (color slide; page 1) The famous South Carolinian John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) made his last Senate speech during the course of the great debate over the Compromise of 1850, a complicate... More
Shaker religious greeting, watercolor, January 1853
Reproduction number: A110 (color slide) In 1776 Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784) and a small group of religious followers purchased land in Niskeyuna (later Watervliet), New York, and founded the first Shaker communi... More
Ulysses S. Grant's commission as lieutenant general signed by Abraham ...
Reproduction number: A38 (color slide) Army officer and United States president Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was at his best in war. Although he was a professional soldier, the United States Army probably was n... More
"Autumn," poem by Helen Keller, 27 October 1893
Reproduction number: A10 (color slide) This poem was written by thirteen-year-old Helen Keller (1880-1968) who, only six years before, was "a wild little creature" who lived in the chilling emptiness and confus... More
Illustrated letter, Frederic Remington to Owen Wister containing a ske...
Reproduction number: A87 (color slide; page 2); LC-MSS-46177-7 (B&W negative; page 2) Two champions of the old West share their common interest in this illustrated letter, ca. January 1895, from sculptor, illus... More
Telegram, Orville Wright to Bishop Milton Wright announcing the first ...
Reproduction number: A88 (color slide); LC-MSS-46706-5 (B&W negative) Before crashing and damaging their flying machine, Orville Wright (1871-1948) and his brother Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) achieved partial avi... More
Branch Rickey's scouting report on Don Drysdale, 15 June 1954
Reproduction number: A75 (color slide) Wesley Branch Rickey (1881-1965), major league baseball manager and executive, was associated over a long career with the St. Louis Browns, St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn D... More
Letter, Elizabeth Pennell to Mr. Kennerley concerning Aubrey Beardsley...
Reproduction number: A98 (color slide) In this 1929 letter, art historian and collector Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936) expresses great interest in and appreciation for what she considers the "most interes... More
Letter, Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White detailing the First Lady's l...
Reproduction number: A69 (color slide); LC-MSS-34140-41 (B&W negative) Lynching was undoubtedly the most terrible crime perpetrated by white supremacists against African Americans. From the late nineteenth cent... More
Letter, Edward R. Murrow to Eric Sevareid offering Sevareid a job with...
Reproduction number: A76 (color slide) Over his long career with the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), first in radio and then television, Eric Sevareid (1912-1992) proved himself to be one of the most talent... More
Naval dispatch from the Commander in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC) announcin...
Reproduction number: A6 (color slide); LC-MSS-78663-1 (B&W negative) The United States entered World War II on 7 December 1941 when Japanese planes launched a surprise attack on the United States Naval Base at ... More
Letter, Ernest Hemingway to Archibald MacLeish discussing Ezra Pound's...
Reproduction number: A62 (color slide) Novelist Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) wrote this 10 August [1943] reply to his friend Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982), the distinguished poet and dramatist who served as Li... More
Petition for bail from accused witches, ca. 1692
Reproduction number: A7 (color slide of original); LC-MSS-12021-1 (B&W negative of original); LC-MSS-12021-2 (B&W negative of typescript) Many American colonists brought with them from Europe a belief in witche... More
Enclosure, John Hancock to George Washington concerning the reading of...
Reproduction number: A121 (color slide; page 1); A122 (color slide; page 2) Among the resolutions passed by the Continental Congress on 4 July 1776 was one which called for the president of the Congress, John H... More
Letter, Benedict Arnold to George Washington pleading for mercy for hi...
Reproduction number: A80 (color slide; page 1); A81 (color slide; page 2) Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold (1741-1801) of the Continental army had fought gallantly for the American side since the beginning of the Rev... More
Letter, John Adams to Thomas Jefferson describing the cordial greeting...
Reproduction number: A51 (color slide; page 1); A52 (color slide; page 2) In this 3 June 1785 letter, written in his secretary's hand, John Adams (1735-1826), Revolutionary patriot and later president of the Un... More
Alexander Hamilton's notes for a speech proposing a plan of government...
Reproduction number: A46 (color slide; first scanned image; no page number); LC-MSS-24612-14 (B&W negative; pages [95] and [98]) and LC-MSS-24612-15 (B&W negative; page [71]) Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), law... More
George Washington's first inaugural address, 30 April 1789
Reproduction number: A115 (color slide; page 1) George Washington (1732-1799) delivered his first inaugural address to a joint session of Congress, assembled in Federal Hall, New York City, on 30 April 1789. Th... More
Letter, James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, partially written in cipher...
Reproduction number: A64 (color slide; page 1) This letter of 23 May 1789 was written by James Madison (1751-1836), a member of the first Congress and later the fourth president of the United States, to Thomas ... More
Thomas Jefferson's design for a plow, ca. 1794. Thomas Jefferson Paper...
Reproduction number: A50 (color slide); LC-MSS-27748-64 (B&W negative) President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), one of Virginia's largest planters, considered agriculture to be "a science of the very first order... More
John Fitch's sketch and description of piston for steamboat propulsion...
Reproduction number: A35 (color slide); LC-MSS-20990-14 (B&W negative) A pioneer in the application of steam for boat propulsion, John Fitch (1743-1798) constructed four different steamboats between 1785 and 17... More
Draft of Abraham Lincoln's instructions to Maj. Robert Anderson in com...
Reproduction number: A105 (color slide; page 1); A106 (color slide; page 2) On 4 March 1861, shortly after delivering his first inaugural address, President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) received word that Fort S... More
Sales contract between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison for an inden...
Reproduction number: A91 (color slide) Former President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) wrote this contract on 19 April 1809 (ironically the anniversary of the Battle of Concord and Lexington which began the war f... More
Letter, James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson seeking foreign policy advice...
Reproduction number: A117 (color slide; page 1); A118 (color slide; page 2) Responding to a series of proposals from British Foreign Minister George Canning (1770-1827) for a joint Anglo-American condemnation o... More
Letter, Andrew Jackson to Martin Van Buren discussing the nullificatio...
Reproduction number: A89 (color slide; pages 1 and 4); A90 (color slide; pages 2 and 3) The nullification controversy of 1832-33 confronted Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) with the greatest crisis of his presidency-... More
Letter, Abraham Lincoln to Mary S. Owens reflecting the frustration of...
Reproduction number: A103 (color slide; page 1); A104 (color slide; page 2); LC-MSS-03189-78 (B&W negative; pages 1 and 2) In autumn 1836, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), then a twenty-seven-year-old Illinois repr... More
Illustrated letter, Amasa J. Parker to Harriet Parker describing the b...
Reproduction number: A119 (color slide; pages 2-3); LC-MSS-35477-1 (B&W negative; page 2) In the earlier years of the republic, wives and families of members of Congress often did not accompany their husbands a... More
Samuel F. B. Morse's colored sketch of railway telegraph, ca. 1838
Reproduction number: A67 (color slide) Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), perhaps best known as the inventor of the first practical telegraph instrument, began his career as an artist and enjoyed a secure ... More
"The Village Blacksmith," poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1840...
Reproduction number: A109 (color slide; page 1); LC-MSS-92775-1 (B&W negative; page 1) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), college professor and one of America's most famous poets, enjoyed wide acceptance o... More
First telegraph message, 24 May 1844
Reproduction number: A97 (color slide) Artist and inventor Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872) is credited with developing the first practical telegraph instrument, an apparatus he formally demonstrated on 2... More
Retained copy of letter, James K. Polk to the Committee of the Democra...
Reproduction number: A72 (color slide; page 1); A73 (color slide; page 2) James K. Polk (1795-1849), the first "dark horse" candidate for the presidency, became the nominee of the Democratic Party at its nation... More
Daniel Webster's notes for his speech to the United States Senate favo...
Reproduction number: A82 (color slide); LC-MSS-44925-2 (B&W negative) Daniel Webster (1782-1852), United States senator from Massachusetts, rose on 7 March 1850 to support a complex series of statutes introduce... More
Letter, Elizabeth Blackwell to Baroness Anne Isabella Milbanke Byron c...
Reproduction number: A11 (color slide; pages 1 and 4); A12 (color slide; pages 2 and 3) I do not wish to give [women] a first place, still less a second one--but the most complete freedom, to take their true pl... More
Examiner's questions for admittance to the American (or Know-Nothing) ...
Reproduction number: A3 (color slide) Anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic movements in American political life had their inception in the 1840s, due to the arrival of large numbers of Irish immigrants at that time... More
Letter, Ralph Waldo Emerson to Walt Whitman extolling Whitman's poetry...
Reproduction number: A32 (color slide; page 1); A33 (color slide; pages 2 and 3); A34 (color slide; pages 4 and 5); LC-MSS-18630-5 (B&W negatives; pages 1-5) Probably the most important letter in American liter... More
"The Tristram's Saga," vellum fragment in Icelandic, 15th century
Reproduction number: A96 (color slide); LC-MSS-21170-1 (B&W negative) During the twelfth century, Norwegian kings sent scribes to France to transcribe Charlemagne tales and other contemporary romances. Among th... More
Letter, Roger Brooke Taney to Caleb Cushing thanking Cushing for his s...
Reproduction number: A25 (color slide; pages 1 and 2); A26 (color slide; pages 3 and 4) Dred Scott v. Sanford, 19 How. 393, was decided by the United States Supreme Court on 6 March 1857. Scott (1809-1858), a s... More
Letter, Mary Todd Lincoln to Abraham Lincoln advising her husband to r...
Reproduction number: A107 (color slide; pages 1 and 2); A108 (color slide; page 3) It is difficult to determine exactly when First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882) lost confidence in George Brinton McClellan ... More
Letter (pages 13-20), Varina Davis to Montgomery Blair describing the ...
Reproduction number: A13 (color slide; page 16); A14 (color slide; page 17) As the Civil War drew to a close, Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), president of the Confederate States of America, fled Richmond with his ... More
Page of Abraham Lincoln's student sum book, ca. 1824-26
Reproduction number: A48 (color slide; front); A49 (color slide; verso); LC-MSS-25791-2 (B&W negatives; front and verso) In his autobiography, President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) claimed that the aggregate of... More
Charles Wellington Reed's pencil sketch of Abraham Lincoln at City Poi...
Reproduction number: A112 (color slide) Civil War soldier and artist Charles Wellington Reed (1841-1926) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 1 April 1841. He enlisted in the Ninth Massachusetts Light Artiller... More
Alexander Graham Bell's design sketch of the telephone, ca. 1876
Reproduction number: A8 (color slide; front); A9 (color slide; verso); LC-MSS-51268-6 (B&W negative; front) This sketch made its way from Boston, Massachusetts, to Australia and back to the United States in tim... More
New Year's greeting from presidential assassin Charles Julius Guiteau ...
Reproduction number: A45 (color slide) Presidential assassinations maintain a strong hold on the American imagination. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) continues to resonate with Ameri... More
Letter and corrected reprint of Walt Whitman's "O Captain, My Captain"...
Reproduction number: A83 (color slide of letter); A84 (color slide of poem reprint); LC-MSS-77909-1 (B&W negative of poem reprint) Inspired by the death of President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), Walt Whitman (1... More
Letter with illustrated fable, Theodore Roosevelt to Theodore Roosevel...
Reproduction number: A113 (color slide; pages 1-2) Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), twenty-sixth president of the United States (1901-09), strived for a life that embodied his ideal of assertive masculinity. At ... More
Illustrated letter, Aubrey Beardsley to G. F. Scotson-Clark concerning...
Reproduction number: A99 (color slide; pages 1 and 4); A100 (color slide; pages 2 and 3); LC-MSS-35857-2 (B&W negative; sketch) In July 1891 a consumptive nineteen-year-old London clerk, Aubrey Beardsley (1872-... More
Draft of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's The Woman's Bible, ca. 1895
Reproduction number: A114 (color slide; Chapter II, page 3) Although most often identified as a suffragist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) participated in a variety of reform initiatives during her lifetime... More
Letter, James McNeill Whistler to David Croal Thomson containing the a...
Reproduction number: A92 (color slide; page 1 and envelope); A93 (color slide; page 2) This letter from one of the nineteenth century's most important painters to the man who functioned almost as a personal age... More
Plate, punch card, and instructions for Herman Hollerith's Electric So...
Reproduction number: A55 (color slide; pages 4 and 5 of instructions); A56 (color slide; plate and punch card) Modern data processing began with the inventions of American engineer Herman Hollerith (1860-1929),... More
Letter, Susan B. Anthony to Adelaide Johnson discussing women minister...
Reproduction number: A4 (color slide; page 1); A5 (color slide; page 2) On 29 January 1896, sculptor Adelaide Johnson (1859-1955) married English businessman Alexander Frederick Jenkins, in her Washington, D.C.... More
Letter, Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute concerning the Wright brothers...
Reproduction number: A21 (color slide; first page); A22 (color slide; last page); LC-MSS-15560-1 (B&W negatives; pages 1-5) Engineer Octave Chanute (1832-1910), a friend and supporter of Wilbur Wright (1867-191... More
Lee De Forest's schematic diagrams and scientific notes on hotel stati...
Reproduction number: A27 (color slide; page 1); A28 (color slide; page 2) The prolific American inventor Lee De Forest (1873-1961), is one of several contenders for the title "Father of Radio." Having obtained ... More
Woodrow Wilson's speech notes, in shorthand, for his "Fourteen Points"...
Reproduction number: A85 (color slide; pages 1-3); LC-MSS-46029-14 (B&W negative; pages 6-8 on one negative) President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) frequently used shorthand to record his first thoughts on topics... More
Letter, Margaret Mead to her grandmother Martha Ramsay Mead discussing...
Reproduction number: A66 (color slide; page 1) Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was a prominent twentieth-century educator, writer, and lecturer. An anthropologist by occupation, she studied the lives of natives of Sa... More
Letter, Billy Gobitas to Minersville, Pennsylvania, school directors, ...
Reproduction number: A43 (color slide; page 1); A44 (color slide; page 2); LC-MSS-78637-1 (B&W negative; pages 1-2) "I do not salute the flag because I have promised to do the will of God," wrote ten-year-old B... More
Clare Boothe Luce's scene description of her play The Women, ca. 1936
Reproduction number: A61 (color slide; page 1); LC-MSS-30759-1 (B&W negative; pages 1-3) Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987), who had successful careers as author, editor, playwright, journalist, congresswoman, and d... More
Drafts of Langston Hughes's poem "Ballad of Booker T.," 30 May-1 June ...
Reproduction number: A57 (color slide; first and second drafts); A58 (color slide; final draft) Langston Hughes (1902-1967), known for his lyric poetry, often wrote insightful commentaries about African-America... More
Letter, John F. Kennedy to Clare Boothe Luce thanking the congresswoma...
Reproduction number: A60 (color slide; pages 1-4) In 1942 a young John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) entered the United States Navy eager to see action in World War II. Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987), playwright, diplo... More
Memorandum in Russian from Joseph Stalin about opening a second front ...
Reproduction number: A47 (color slide; pages 1 and 2) In 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) appointed financier and businessman W. Averell Harriman (1891-1986) as his "special representative" to G... More
Letter, Franklin D. Roosevelt to J. Robert Oppenheimer thanking the ph...
Reproduction number: A70 (color slide; pages 1-2) In the midst of World War II when the United States was engaged abroad in a major conflict with Germany and Japan, it was also working furiously at home toward ... More
Gen. George S. Patton's diary entries for March 1943
Reproduction number: A71 (color slide; 11-12 March 1943) One of the military innovations of World War I was the emergence of the armored tank. George S. Patton, Jr. (1885-1945), was the first American officer a... More
Gen. Douglas MacArthur's "Old Soldiers Never Die" address to Congress,...
Reproduction number: A63 (color slide; first and last pages) Gen. Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) was one of most prominent United States military figures of the first half of the twentieth century. In World War ... More
Notes, William O. Douglas to Earl Warren, 11 May 1954; Harold H. Burto...
Reproduction number: A79 (color slide) The justices of the United States Supreme Court communicate with one another about individual cases throughout the judicial process, from the initial decision about accept... More
Felix Frankfurter's draft decree to enforce the Brown v. Board of Educ...
Reproduction number: A36 (color slide; pages 1 and 2); LC-MSS-47571-3 (B&W negative; page 2) On 17 May 1954 Chief Justice Earl Warren (1891-1974) delivered the Supreme Court's unanimous opinion in Brown v. Boar... More
Enclosure, John Hancock to George Washington concerning the reading of...
Reproduction number: A121 (color slide; page 1); A122 (color slide; page 2) Among the resolutions passed by the Continental Congress on 4 July 1776 was one which called for the president of the Congress, John H... More
Letter, Benedict Arnold to George Washington pleading for mercy for hi...
Reproduction number: A80 (color slide; page 1); A81 (color slide; page 2) Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold (1741-1801) of the Continental army had fought gallantly for the American side since the beginning of the Rev... More
Letter, John Adams to Thomas Jefferson describing the cordial greeting...
Reproduction number: A51 (color slide; page 1); A52 (color slide; page 2) In this 3 June 1785 letter, written in his secretary's hand, John Adams (1735-1826), Revolutionary patriot and later president of the Un... More
Alexander Hamilton's notes for a speech proposing a plan of government...
Reproduction number: A46 (color slide; first scanned image; no page number); LC-MSS-24612-14 (B&W negative; pages [95] and [98]) and LC-MSS-24612-15 (B&W negative; page [71]) Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), law... More
Letter, James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, partially written in cipher...
Reproduction number: A64 (color slide; page 1) This letter of 23 May 1789 was written by James Madison (1751-1836), a member of the first Congress and later the fourth president of the United States, to Thomas ... More
George Washington's first inaugural address, 30 April 1789
Reproduction number: A115 (color slide; page 1) George Washington (1732-1799) delivered his first inaugural address to a joint session of Congress, assembled in Federal Hall, New York City, on 30 April 1789. Th... More
Thomas Jefferson's design for a plow, ca. 1794. Thomas Jefferson Paper...
Reproduction number: A50 (color slide); LC-MSS-27748-64 (B&W negative) President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), one of Virginia's largest planters, considered agriculture to be "a science of the very first order... More
John Fitch's sketch and description of piston for steamboat propulsion...
Reproduction number: A35 (color slide); LC-MSS-20990-14 (B&W negative) A pioneer in the application of steam for boat propulsion, John Fitch (1743-1798) constructed four different steamboats between 1785 and 17... More
Draft of Abraham Lincoln's instructions to Maj. Robert Anderson in com...
Reproduction number: A105 (color slide; page 1); A106 (color slide; page 2) On 4 March 1861, shortly after delivering his first inaugural address, President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) received word that Fort S... More
Letter, James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson seeking foreign policy advice...
Reproduction number: A117 (color slide; page 1); A118 (color slide; page 2) Responding to a series of proposals from British Foreign Minister George Canning (1770-1827) for a joint Anglo-American condemnation o... More
Letter, Andrew Jackson to Martin Van Buren discussing the nullificatio...
Reproduction number: A89 (color slide; pages 1 and 4); A90 (color slide; pages 2 and 3) The nullification controversy of 1832-33 confronted Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) with the greatest crisis of his presidency-... More
Letter, Abraham Lincoln to Mary S. Owens reflecting the frustration of...
Reproduction number: A103 (color slide; page 1); A104 (color slide; page 2); LC-MSS-03189-78 (B&W negative; pages 1 and 2) In autumn 1836, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), then a twenty-seven-year-old Illinois repr... More
Illustrated letter, Amasa J. Parker to Harriet Parker describing the b...
Reproduction number: A119 (color slide; pages 2-3); LC-MSS-35477-1 (B&W negative; page 2) In the earlier years of the republic, wives and families of members of Congress often did not accompany their husbands a... More
Samuel F. B. Morse's colored sketch of railway telegraph, ca. 1838
Reproduction number: A67 (color slide) Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), perhaps best known as the inventor of the first practical telegraph instrument, began his career as an artist and enjoyed a secure ... More
"The Village Blacksmith," poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1840...
Reproduction number: A109 (color slide; page 1); LC-MSS-92775-1 (B&W negative; page 1) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), college professor and one of America's most famous poets, enjoyed wide acceptance o... More
Retained copy of letter, James K. Polk to the Committee of the Democra...
Reproduction number: A72 (color slide; page 1); A73 (color slide; page 2) James K. Polk (1795-1849), the first "dark horse" candidate for the presidency, became the nominee of the Democratic Party at its nation... More
First telegraph message, 24 May 1844
Reproduction number: A97 (color slide) Artist and inventor Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872) is credited with developing the first practical telegraph instrument, an apparatus he formally demonstrated on 2... More
Daniel Webster's notes for his speech to the United States Senate favo...
Reproduction number: A82 (color slide); LC-MSS-44925-2 (B&W negative) Daniel Webster (1782-1852), United States senator from Massachusetts, rose on 7 March 1850 to support a complex series of statutes introduce... More
Letter, Elizabeth Blackwell to Baroness Anne Isabella Milbanke Byron c...
Reproduction number: A11 (color slide; pages 1 and 4); A12 (color slide; pages 2 and 3) I do not wish to give [women] a first place, still less a second one--but the most complete freedom, to take their true pl... More
Examiner's questions for admittance to the American (or Know-Nothing) ...
Reproduction number: A3 (color slide) Anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic movements in American political life had their inception in the 1840s, due to the arrival of large numbers of Irish immigrants at that time... More
Letter, Ralph Waldo Emerson to Walt Whitman extolling Whitman's poetry...
Reproduction number: A32 (color slide; page 1); A33 (color slide; pages 2 and 3); A34 (color slide; pages 4 and 5); LC-MSS-18630-5 (B&W negatives; pages 1-5) Probably the most important letter in American liter... More
"The Tristram's Saga," vellum fragment in Icelandic, 15th century
Reproduction number: A96 (color slide); LC-MSS-21170-1 (B&W negative) During the twelfth century, Norwegian kings sent scribes to France to transcribe Charlemagne tales and other contemporary romances. Among th... More
Letter, Roger Brooke Taney to Caleb Cushing thanking Cushing for his s...
Reproduction number: A25 (color slide; pages 1 and 2); A26 (color slide; pages 3 and 4) Dred Scott v. Sanford, 19 How. 393, was decided by the United States Supreme Court on 6 March 1857. Scott (1809-1858), a s... More
Letter, Mary Todd Lincoln to Abraham Lincoln advising her husband to r...
Reproduction number: A107 (color slide; pages 1 and 2); A108 (color slide; page 3) It is difficult to determine exactly when First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882) lost confidence in George Brinton McClellan ... More
Page of Abraham Lincoln's student sum book, ca. 1824-26
Reproduction number: A48 (color slide; front); A49 (color slide; verso); LC-MSS-25791-2 (B&W negatives; front and verso) In his autobiography, President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) claimed that the aggregate of... More
Letter (pages 13-20), Varina Davis to Montgomery Blair describing the ...
Reproduction number: A13 (color slide; page 16); A14 (color slide; page 17) As the Civil War drew to a close, Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), president of the Confederate States of America, fled Richmond with his ... More
Charles Wellington Reed's pencil sketch of Abraham Lincoln at City Poi...
Reproduction number: A112 (color slide) Civil War soldier and artist Charles Wellington Reed (1841-1926) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 1 April 1841. He enlisted in the Ninth Massachusetts Light Artiller... More
Alexander Graham Bell's design sketch of the telephone, ca. 1876
Reproduction number: A8 (color slide; front); A9 (color slide; verso); LC-MSS-51268-6 (B&W negative; front) This sketch made its way from Boston, Massachusetts, to Australia and back to the United States in tim... More