Not long before Dave Smith’s unanticipated death, Manuscript Society Board of Trustees member, Kevin Segall sat down with Dave to interview him about his career, collecting interests and any advice he had for young people interested in archives. That interview from in the Spring issue of Manuscripts, is shared here. After his death, the society […]
In Boston, MA at the annual meeting of the Manuscript Society in April 2019, the general membership in attendance elected the following individuals to become the Class of 2022 to join the Board of Trustees. We are fortunate that some renewed their service and we have also added new members. Continuing Members Richard Ellis, MD, […]
An Alexander Hamilton letter written in 1780 has come to light. This handwritten signed letter is from Hamilton to the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette, a general fighting for the American cause during the American Revolution is receiving British trip locations from Hamilton. It is one of many documents written by early American Revolutionaries and originally […]
Beowulf! How many of us remember our school days reading, or at least trying to read, “classics” like Beowulf, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales or Shakespeare’s King Lear. Even today, research continues on authorship, writing styles, the meanings of words, syntax and so much more. Beowulf, believed to have been composed around 1000 was first published in […]
Books vanishing into the ether world. Unknown until now. All discovered from a lost volume now found! No, it is not from the world of Harry Potter. The 500 year old Libro de los Epítomes is the catalog for Hernando Colón’s 16th-century collection. His library was to be the biggest in the world. Amazingly the […]
He began collection in 1959. But not the usual letters. They were Time Magazines. He would send them off asking the person to autograph their cover image. His name is Randall Salas. He began at age 17 from Caracas. With over 1500 issues in his collection he has seen many changes in the world and […]
In 1848 women gathered in Seneca Falls, New York to consider not only voting rights, but the conditions of women in society at large. The result was the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. The issues were not new. Abigail Adams in a now famous letter to her husband John written […]
In November, 2017, Manuscript Society Member, Stuart Lutz, wrote an article, Can I Deduct that? An Introduction to Appraisals for the society journal, Manuscripts. He included the proposed parameters issued by the IRS. Stuart noted new requirements for appraisers and outlined questions collectors needed to ask of appraisers and the limitations on valuation. For the […]
From 1958 through the remainder of his life, David R. Smith was an integral part in The Manuscript Society. As he told Kevin Segall in a recent interview, “I joined [The Manuscript Society] in 1958. When I was able to begin attending the annual meetings, I was thrilled to find others who were as interested […]
Deadline looming. February 14, 2019 is the final date to submit a complete application for the 2019 Richard Maass Research Grant. The $5,000 grant supports research expenses directly related to use of original manuscripts. This includes travel to manuscript repositories, photocopies, and user fees. Applicants must be graduate students. Doctoral candidates are given preference. The […]