Manuscript Digest – February/March 2021 – This complimentary e-digest, now published bi-monthly, covers significant acquisitions and sales, manuscripts lost and found, rare books and ephemera, document conservation, and more.

In the News

Move Over, Honus
New York Times, February 18, 2021
One collector holds two LeBron James trading cards worth a combined $7 million. So where does that leave Honus Wagner’s fabled T206 and Mickey Mantle’s rookie card?

No Drooling
ARTnews, February 11, 2021
Elaine and Alexander Rosenberg left a trove of illuminated manuscripts and rare books. Where their collection came from, where it’s been, and what it’s worth.
• The sale that didn’t happen

Book Value
Book Riot, January 27, 2021
How to have rare books appraised, with tips from a staffer at Indiana University’s Lilly Library. Plus the pitfalls of DIY research and the value of (your) expertise.

On the Records
Federal News Network, February 16, 2021
The Library of Congress just wrapped up a project to preserve early presidential papers. How’d it go? Think 150 years of handwriting, office supplies, papers, inks, technologies …

Replevin with a Twist
WJHL, January 28, 2021
In Tennessee, someone got hold of Washington County’s first book of deeds and won’t give it back. Who’s refusing to hand it over? Not a collector. Not a dealer. Keep guessing.

Fire and Ice
Lansing City Pulse, February 10, 2021
Seventy years ago, fire struck the Library of Michigan. A young librarian entered the smoldering ruin to find history lost, a treasure saved — and a haunting sight.
• Myth busted: what doesn’t happen at the Beinecke in case of fire

Rapid Release
Yale Daily News, February 10, 2021
Yale’s new collection of Frederick Douglass papers made it online in time for Black History Month. How the Beinecke Library pulled out the stops to speed public access.
• What’s on view

Turning the Pages
New York Times, January 8, 2021
As biographer Robert Caro handed off his papers to posterity, he paged through them with a reporter. Find out what’s in store and how the New-York Historical Society got the lot.

Love and War
Washington Post, February 14, 2021
Andrew Carroll built a collection of war letters from the American Revolution on. An unanswered letter from a World War II GI’s sweetheart is a heartbreaker.
• Undelivered letters salvaged from a U-boat attack

ET, Download
Smithsonianmag.com, January 15, 2021
A stream of FOIA requests finally unleashed a stash of CIA documents on UFOs. Now they’re posted as PDFs anyone can download. Almost takes the mystery out of it.

From Our Blog

William Henry Dorsey: Preserving Black History

The family of Frederick Douglass kept their famous father’s clippings and ephemera. That collection is now at the Beinecke. At the same time, a Philadelphia man was making his own scrapbooks of news articles about the Black experience. Today it’s in archival limbo. What scholars are missing in the William Henry Dorsey collection.

 

Flip > Explore   Magazines and the American Experience 300 years of periodicals  – Highlights from the Collection of Steven Lomazow – The Grolier Club, NYC