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War Between The States

Personalities

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John Houston Finley

Personalities
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Personalities: Civil Rights

190.  Frederick Douglas (1818-1895) Abolitionist, journalist, and orator. Douglass was a former slave who became one of the great American anti-slavery leaders of the 1800s. 8 ½” x 14” legal document signed, District of Columbia, March 3, 1884. The document is a deed that Douglas has signed as District of Columbia Recorder. 

$250 to $500

191.      Martin Luther King (1929-1968) Civil Rights activist. King was the most famous leader of the American civil rights movement, and a Baptist minister. He promoted nonviolence and equal treatment for different races, he received the Nobel Peace Prize before he was assassinated in 1968. 4 ½” x 2 ½” signature “Best Wishes / Martin Luther King Jr.,” double matted with a printed black and white photograph of King delivering his “I Have a Dream” speech. Framed to 12 ½” x 14”.  King signed in the blank upper right portion of a typewritten letter with seven words visible, “disappointed that we won’t be seeing you,” and the rubber stamped date “Aug 4 1965,” either the date this letter was written or received. This item has not been examined out of the frame, we believe that the entire letter has been folded exposing only the inscription and signature. Full signatures of King are rare.   

 $1,200 to $2,400

192.  Rosa Parks (1913-2005) Civil Rights activist. When Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus to a white man, she was arrested and fined. The subsequent bus boycott by African-Americans caused a national sensation that eventually led to widespread desegregation in the United States and to the civil rights movement of the 1960s. 9” x 11” color print of a painting, signed.

$150 to $250

193.  Rosa Parks (1913-2005) Civil Rights activist. When Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus to a white man, she was arrested and fined. The subsequent bus boycott by African-Americans caused a national sensation that eventually led to widespread desegregation in the United States and to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.  5” x 3” card signed.   

$100 to $200

Personalities: Religion

194.  Brigham Young (1801-1877) Religious leader. Young led the great Mormon migration of 1846-48 and oversaw the church’s establishment and growth in Utah. An early convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Young was named president of the church after the 1844 murder of its founder, Joseph Smith. Young led the Mormons west and personally chose the site of the church's new colony, which became Salt Lake City. From 1851-57 he also served as Governor of the Utah Territory. 3 ¾” x 2 ½” card signed. The corners are clipped and there is mounting remains on the reverse. Includes a 5” x 7” sepia toned photograph. 

 $700 to $1,200

195.  Stephen S. Wise (1874-1949) Zionist leader. A social liberal, Wise was co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909 and the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920. 6 ¼” x 9 ¼” printed engraving, signed in green ink “To Mr. Robert D. Sitles with all good wises Stephen S. Wise.”  Two horizontal folds

$100 to $200

196.  Edward J. Flanagan (1886-1948) Clergyman. Flanagan was a Roman Catholic priest. He established Boys Town, ten miles west of Omaha, in 1921. Under Father Flanagan’s direction, Boys Town grew to be a large community and other facilities where boys between ages 10 and 16 could receive an education and learn a trade. 5” x 2 ¾” sheet signed, “Sincerely Yours, God bless you. Father Flanagan. Boys Town, Nebraska. U. S. A.” Some age spotting and toning, with a color photograph of Father Flanagan and a “Honorary Citizen” certificate from Boys Town with a printed signature.  

$100 to $200

197.  Pilgrimage to South America.  11 ¼” x 8 ½”, 40 page, Delta Line cruise program from a trip, obliviously a religious pilgrimage, from the 1950’s signed on the first and last blank pages by twenty-seven Roman Catholic clergyman including Francis Cardinal Spellman (1889-1967) Spellman served as Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death, and was named a cardinal by Pope Pius XII in 1946 and John Cardinal Krol (1910-1995) signs as “Auxiliary Bishop of Cleveland.” Krol was named Archbishop of Philadelphia in 1961, elevated to cardinal in 1967 and served there until 1988. 

$75 to $150

Personalities: Adventure

198.  J. W. “Capt. Jack” Crawford (1847-1917) Explorer, author. “Captain Jack” had a colorful career in the Old West, beginning when he is said to have been one of the first seven men to enter the Black Hills region after the ill-fated Custer expedition. There, he served as Chief of Scouts for the Black Hills Rangers. During the Sioux Wars of 1876, “Captain Jack” was a scout in New Mexico and also a special agent of the Indian Bureau. Crawford, who also wrote three plays and over 100 short stories. 7 ¼” x 14” broadside of a poem entitled My Birthday, March Fourth Nineteen Fifteen, written by Crawford, signed at the conclusion next to a printed photograph of Crawford.

$300 to $500

199.  Winfield Scott Schley (1839-1911) Admiral. Schley served with Union naval forces in the Civil War, he held various naval posts. In 1884 he commanded the third, and successful, relief expedition to rescue the Arctic explorer Adolphus W. Greely. Three signed items: 4 ¼” x 6 ½” autograph letter signed, Washington, October 28, 1899, to Grace Dunning. “…Thank you very much for your very kind letter….” With the original envelope addressed by Schley. 7” x 7 ¾” typed letter signed, no place or date, to Professor Edwards. “…I have…your letter…asking for samples of seaweeds and sea mud from the coast in this locality….” 5 ¼” x 6 ½” autograph quote signed, Washington, February 17, 1911. “Know thyself, presume not…the proper study of mankind in man.” Signed with his rank, “Rear Admiral, U. S. N.”   

$250 to $450

200.  Edmund Hillary (1919-2008) Explorer. Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay were the first humans to reach Earth’s highest point: the summit of Mount Everest in the Himalayas. They reached the top on May 29,1953. 8” x 10” black and white photograph of Hillary scaling Everest, signed.    

$100 to $200

201.  Millvina Dean (1912-    ) Titanic survivor. Dean is the last remaining survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic that occurred April 15, 1912. At two months of age, she was the youngest passenger on board. 14” x 8 ½” black and white photograph of the Titanic, signed. Includes a color photograph of dean at the signing. 

$50 to $100

Personalities: Justice

202.  Joseph Story (1779-1845) Jurist. Story was appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1811 by James Madison. He joined John Marshall in interpreting the United States Constitution in a manner favoring the expansion of federal power. He also acted with Marshall to uphold private property rights and economic liberty as fundamental principles of the Constitution. 8” x 10” autograph letter signed, Salem, August 13, 1816, to Henry A. S. Dearborn. “…I received your translation of the French Treatise on Pastel... I have felt it my.duty to acknowledge in a more permanent manner my obligation to you for your kind and valuable present ... warm thanks of all who feel interested in the agricultural and manufacturing establishments of our country. Real independence is to be acquired only by endeavouring to cultivate within ourselves as far as we can the arts of peace and the arts of war….” 

 $1,500 to $2,800

203.  Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948) Statesman, jurist. Hughes served as Governor of New York, United States Secretary of State, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He was the Republican candidate in the 1916 Presidential election, losing to Woodrow Wilson. 6 ¾” x 9 ¾” typed letter signed, State of New York, December 15, 1908, to Walter Gilman Page. “…I thank you for your kind renewal of the invitation to attend the annual dinner of the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the Revolution…I have another engagement….”      

$150 to $250

204.  Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965) Jurist. Frankfurter was nominated by Franklin D. Roosevelt  to the United States Supreme Court in 1939. He served until 1962. Frankfurter became the court’s most outspoken advocate of judicial restraint, the view that courts should not interpret the fundamental law, the constitution, in such a way as to impose sharp limits upon the authority of the legislative and executive branches. 3 ½” x 2” card with a 1939 commemorative stamp affixed recognizing the anniversary of printing, signed across the stamp. 

 $200 to $400

205.  John Bassett Moore (1860-1947) Attorney. Moore was an authority on international law who was a member of the Hague Tribunal and the first US judge to serve on the Permanent Court of International Justice. 15” x 20” engraving by Franklin T. Wood (1887-1945) signed in pencil by Moore and Wood, who adds: “Thirteenth proof from copper plate.”   

$200 to $400

206.  Henry Wade (1914–2001) Attorney. Wade participated in two of the most notable US court cases of the 20th century; the prosecution of Jack Ruby for killing Lee Harvey Oswald and the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing abortion, Roe v. Wade. 8½" x 11" copy of the murder affidavit filed by Wade as District Attorney of Dallas County, against Lee Harvey Oswald; November 22, 1963, signed and dated “12 July 93.”

$300 to $500

207.  Joseph N. Welch (1890-1960) Attorney. Welch was the head attorney for the Army while it was under investigation by Joseph McCarthy's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for Communist activities. This investigation was underway in 1954when television was first becoming a common household product in the United States. It was the first time many people got a first-hand view of McCarthy. 7 ¼” x 10 ½” autograph letter signed, “Joe Welch,” personal stationery, no date, to Bernard Baker. “…My real autograph is at the foot of this letter….”   

      $200 to $400

208.  Supreme Court – The Warren Court.  The Warren Court was together from the mid 1950s to the late 1960s. Headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court’s first major decision was Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education which desegregated public schools. The Court also issued controversial decisions on criminal and police rights, voting rights and legislative districts, religion in school, legal representation for the poor, and censorship laws. 4 ½” x 3 ¼” engraved Supreme Court Card signed by Chief Justice “Earl Warren” (1891-1974) and by Associate Justices “Hugo L. Black” (1886-1971), “W Douglas” (1898-1980), “Tom C. Clark” (1899-1977), “John M. Harlan” (1899-1971), “Wm J Brennan, Jr.” (1906-1997), “Potter Stewart” (1915-1985), “Byron R. White” (1917-2002) and “Abe Fortas” (1910-1982). The signed card has been affixed to the title page of the hardcover book, Equal Justice Under Law/The Supreme Court in American Life,n 1965 by The Foundation of the Federal Bar Association with the cooperation of the National Geographic Society, 1965. The book’s cover shows evidence of wear at the edges but is internally sound. There is a bookplate affixed to the back cover.

$800 to $1,400

209.  Byron “Whizzer” White (1917-2002) Jurist. White was a football star, a successful lawyer, a deputy U.S. attorney general, and a U.S. Supreme Court justice. On the high court, he was considered an independent and often served as a swing vote in close decisions, though he most often sided with the conservatives. 8” x 10” sepia toned photograph from his collegiate football days, signed. 

 $150 to $250

Personalities: Invention & Discovery

210.  Luther Burbank (1849-1926) Horticulturist. Burbank developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 55-year career. His varied creations included fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables. 5 ½” x 7” typed letter signed, personal stationery, March 8, 1922, to Frederick Webley. “…Your wonderful poem, so beautifully executed, with such a gracious spirit breathing through it all, received with joy…that you may receive your share of the blessings which you heap upon others….” The letter is double matted with the original envelope to 17” x 17”.

 $300 to $500

211.  George Washington Carver (1860- 1943) Botanist, inventor. Carver was the son of a Missouri slave. His attempts to find crop alternatives to cotton led him to the peanut; eventually he created more than 325 products from the humble legume, helping to create demand for the plant and establish it as a major crop. Carver also worked with sweet potatoes, soybeans and pecans, among other plants, and is often credited with changing the face of agriculture in the American south. 3 ½” x 6 ¼” Pencil drawing of a budding red flower drawn and signed “G. W. Carver” in green pencil. He has inscribed it in brown ink “Wishing Mr. Shehehee, a Merry Christmas.” Creases and light soiling mostly in blank areas do not materially affect the drawing’s appearance. Mounting remnants on the reverse.  

 $1,200 to $2,000

212.  Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) Inventor. Edison was the great genius inventor of the electrical age. His hundreds of inventions made him a giant public figure in American and around the world at the turn of the 20th century. Among Edison’s most famous inventions are the first practical long-lasting light bulb and the phonograph. Check signed with his “umbrella signature,” Edison Botanic Research Corporation, March 11, 1929, payable to Crocker Wheeler Electric manufacturing Company. Cancellation holes overlay the “Th” of his signature.

$750 to $1,200

213.  Lee deForest (1873-1961) Inventor. De Forest pioneered in radio, both in developing broadcasting and in inventing the audion tube, for which he received a patent in 1908.  He is considered one of the fathers of radio. 4” x 5” black and white photograph signed, “Lee deForest Feb 24 ’58.”  

$150 to $300

214.  Linus Pauling (1901-1994) Chemist. Pauling was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1954. He’s also the only person ever to win two unshared Nobel Prizes: as an outspoken activist against nuclear testing, he won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1962. 10” x 8” black and white photograph signed. 

$150 to $250

215.  Jonas Salk (1914-1995) Biologist. In 1955 Jonas Salk became a medical hero for developing a vaccine that helped conquer polio. 10” x 8” black and white photograph signed. 

$150 to $250

216.  Edward Teller (1908-2003) Hungarian-American physicist. Teller was recruited to work with J. Robert Oppenheimer on the fission bomb at the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico. While at Los Alamos, Teller began his own research on the feasibility of a thermonuclear or hydrogen fusion bomb. First day of issue postal cover with the Practices in Electronics commemorative and cachet, signed. Double matted with a printed color photograph to 11” x 14”.  

$100 to $200

Personalities

217.  Anna Freud (1895-1982) Psychoanalysist. Anna was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud. She followed the path of her father and contributed to the newly born field of psychoanalysis. Compared to her father, Anna Freud’s work emphasized the importance of the ego, and its ability to be trained socially. 6 ½” x 9” typed letter signed, personal stationery, February 29, 1972, to David A. Marcus. “…I do think that you set too much store by my autograph, but anyway, here it is….” The original envelope is included.

$250 to $400

218.  Alfred A. Strauss (1897–1959) German physician. Strauss created the diagnostic category of minimal brain damage in children. He presumed that children with learning difficulties, who were not mentally retarded, hearing impaired, or emotionally disturbed, had minimal brain damage. He developed a number of qualitative diagnostic measures of brain injury in children. The syndrome came to be called by some “Strauss Syndrome.” 5¾" x 8¼" autograph letter signed, in German (not translated), Psychiatrisch- Neurologische Klinik, Heidelberg, October 1, 1930.

$100 to $200

219.  Henry Bergh (1811-1888) Philanthropist. Bergh founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 5 ¼” x 8” autograph letter signed, two pages, front and back, no date or place, to “My dear Gould…Florence the city of sweet song and bad smells, little virtue and any quantity of carved gilt frames…Your good picture of a bad subject…may be consigned when finished and boxed to the care of Maguay, Parkerham & Smyth…the sad house, or rather Mr. Smyth, has one other case belonging to me which awaits the traveling companion you are…sending….” Small break in the center fold. 

$200 to $400

220.  Jan Gies (1905-1993) and Miep Gies (1909-    ) Dutch husband and wife and members of the Dutch Resistance. They helped hide Anne Frank and her family from Nazi persecution during the occupation of the Netherlands. She discovered and preserved Anne’s diary after Anne Frank’s arrest and deportation. United Nations postal cover with the Institute for Training and Research commemorative and cachet, signed by both.

$150 to $300

Personalities – Notorious

221.  (Bonnie & Clyde). Bonnie Parker (1910-1934) and Clyde Barrow (1909-1934) were notorious robbers and criminals who traveled the central United States during the Great Depression. 8” x 8” wanted poster, U.S. Department of Justice, May 21, 1934. The poster details the notorious bank robbers’ records, descriptions with their photographs. The poster shows scattered age spotting.  

$100 to $200

222.  (John Dillinger). John Dillinger (1909-1934) Dillinger was the most famous modern American criminal. During the Depression of the 1930s his bank robberies were generally regarded as revenge on society’s financial institutions. 8” x 8” wanted poster, U.S. Department of Justice, March 12, 1934. The poster details his criminal record, and contains his description, finger prints and photograph. The poster shows scattered age spotting.  

$100 to $200

223.  Carlo Gambino (1902–1976) Don of the Gambino crime family. Gambino seized control over the Cosa Nostra in the United States, at the 1957 Appalachian Convention. Gambino was known for being low-key and secretive and unlike many modern mobsters, Gambino served no time in prison, but lived to the age of 74, when he died of a heart attack in bed. 8¼” x 3” check, S.G.S. Associates, March 9, 1963, Chase Manhattan Bank signed. There is a cancellation stamp barely touching the signature.

$150 to $300

224.  Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (1948-    ) Fromme is a former member of Charles Manson’s “Family,” convicted of attempting to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1975. 3 ¾” x 5 ¾”, three-page autograph letter signed, “Lynette,” May 5, 2002, to Alex Obledo. “…I enjoy the different cuisines. Here they try to accommodate the customs of ethnic holidays & often will allow the women from a particular hispanic country to enter the kitchen…Some women complain but they will complain about anything & everything….” The original envelope, which she addressed and upon which she has written her name and return address in included. Matted with a reproduction of a TIME cover to 18” x 14”. 

$100 to $200

225.  James Earl Ray (1929-1998) Ray was the assassin of civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Two 8 ½” x 11” printed transcripts signed. One is an interview conducted with Ray by USA Today in which he denied being the assassin and the second an article in The Spotlight entitled “Railroaded.” They are matted together with a printed photographs of Dr. King, Ray and his wanted poster to 24” x 20”. 

$150 to $250

226.  Henry Hill

$50 to $100