University Archives is pleased to announce its upcoming sale, Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Photographs, and Books, on March 30, 2022. Presidential, Science, Technology, Aviation, Space, Sports, and World Leaders are among our leading categories, though novice and veteran collectors alike will also appreciate the outstanding cross-section of Early American, Civil War, Literature, Art, Music, Entertainment, Business, and Civil Rights material. There is something for everyone in our March sale. Exceptional historical items range from manuscripts, letters, documents, and rare books, to photographs, relics, artwork, and even military mementoes.
The March 30th auction index is as follows: American Politics / Supreme Court: Lots 1 – 24; American Presidents / First Ladies: Lots 25 – 132; Art: Lots 133 – 148; Aviation / Space: Lots 149 – 177; Business / Notables / Notorious: Lots 178 – 208; Civil Rights / Native American / Slavery: Lots 209 – 219; Colonial / Declaration of Independence / Revolutionary War: Lots 220 – 253; Entertainment / Music / Sports: Lots 254 – 296; History / Military: Lots 297 – 348; International / World Leaders: Lots 349 – 386; Literature: Lots 387 – 400; Old West: Lots 401 – 404; Science: Lots 405 – 418.
PRESIDENTIAL
Our March sale showcases over 100 items relating to U.S. Presidents, from John Adams to Joe Biden. One of the highlights is a John Adams signed document dated January 27, 1801 promoting an artillery engineer. This military document features an unusually large Adams signature measuring nearly 3” x 1.” Adams had recently been defeated by Thomas Jefferson during the “Revolution of 1800.” John F. Kennedy signed a document on September 20, 1962 appointing Henry DeWolf Smyth, author of the Manhattan Project’s official history, the Smyth Report, to serve as an alternative U.S. delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency conference. As ambassador, Smyth later promoted the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Another marquee presidential item includes part of the sheet from Abraham Lincoln’s death bed removed from the Peterson Boarding House, a blood-stained linen swatch measuring .625” x .25.” The fabric is CAG encapsulated and comes with provenance from American diplomat Charles K. Tuckerman. A 1p typed letter signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on White House stationery dated June 6, 1942 acknowledged receipt of a New York architect’s annotated drawings relating to “a proposed net protection against torpedo attack for ocean going vessels.” FDR letters with military content are unusual, and such letters referring to Nazi U-boat attacks addressed to a civilian two years to the day before D-Day are next to impossible to find!
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Albert Einstein, Henri Becquerel, Wilhelm Roentgen, Marie Curie, Thomas Babbage, Alexander Fleming, and Sigmund Freud are just a few of the scientists featured in our March sale. An Albert Einstein manuscript in German from ca. 1942 is paired with a vintage Lotte Jacobi photograph of the physicist wearing his beloved bomber jacket. Einstein’s manuscript, containing 91 words and 13 lines of mathematical calculations, relates to covariant bivectors, in what marked one of his final attempts at articulating his Unified Field Theory. An autograph letter signed by Henri Becquerel, discover of radioactivity, and an autograph letter signed by Wilhelm Roentgen, who developed X-rays, in their native languages of French and German respectively, testify to the breadth of this selection of first-rate scientific autographs.
Aviation, Space, Exploration and Technology are also well-represented. Among these items is a CAG encapsulated muslin swatch from the Wright Flyer, the Wright Brothers’s biplane, which first flew at Kitty Hawk in December 1903.
WORLD LEADERS
Our March sale features over 30 items relating to World Leaders, including Moshe Dayan, Catherine II of Russia, Mary Stuart, Emperor Hirohito, Fidel Castro, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Alfonso V of Aragon. In 1966, Israeli statesman Moshe Dayan spent four weeks embedded with U.S. forces in Vietnam, and his often critical observations of American military tactics was later published in his “Vietnam Diary.” A significant portion of Dayan’s original manuscript — a remarkable 197 pages in Hebrew with occasional words in English — is stored in a luxurious clamshell case, along with a signed first edition copy of the published book. Also offered is a beautiful partially printed document signed by Russian Empress Catherine II, as well as a large cream strip of lace removed from a dress belonging to Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. The lace comes with provenance dating it to 1566, from around the time when Stuart’s favorite Italian courtier David Rizzio was brutally stabbed to death in front of her.
These are just a few of many spectacular and one-of-a-kind items that will be offered on March 30, 2022. We hope you can join us!
–John Reznikoff
