Welcome to The Manuscript Society

The Mission of the Manuscript Society is to encourage the collection and preservation of manuscripts and documents; to stimulate and aid collectors in their various collecting specialties; to facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge among collectors, scholars, dealers and the general public; and to promote the highest professional and ethical standards.

Featured

Manuscript Mondays featured image.

Manuscript Mondays

The Manuscript Society is hosting monthly webinars on topics for collectors.  Each hour long webinar provides an opportunity to peek behind the scenes of valuations, writing & publishing, purchasing/selling, auctions and more.

Faneiul Hall in Boston, MA.

2026 Annual Meeting – Boston!

Join us in Boston for the Manuscript Society’s next Annual Meeting, taking place May 27–31, 2026. This year’s meeting coincides with Boston 250, the city’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

Pictures from the Manuscript annual trip to Oxford & Cambridge.

2025 Cambridge / Oxford Trip Recap

Over several days, Manuscript Society members explored some of the cities’ most storied libraries, museums, and archives—places that hold centuries of history and some of the world’s most extraordinary manuscripts.

Latest Digest

Digest: February/March 2021

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. […]

March 2, 2021|

Recent Posts

IRS Updates Requirements on Appraisals and Appraisers

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 [...]

February 20, 2019|

2019 Maass Research Grant Deadline Looming

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 [...]

February 9, 2019|

Autograph Collecting: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Pedro Corrêa do Lago of Brazil, has collected for over five decades. His collection of autographs is the largest in the world. It surpasses  his personal inspiration, John Pierpont Morgan. Richard Hall is a collector, appraisals expert, and adviser on manuscripts to Alex Cooper Auctioneers in Maryland. Both men are [...]

February 3, 2019|

Secrets in the Johnson Archives

Washington, October 1940; Samuel Houston Johnson; Alice Glass; Big Oil....  Historian Robert de Caro's article "The Secrets of Lyndon Johnson's Archives" illuminates the discoveries and challenges found when researching in manuscripts!  Remembering his first visit to the Johnson Presidential Library and Archives in Austin, "In front of me was a [...]

January 28, 2019|

James H. Billington dies at 86

James H. Billington, an eminent American scholar of Russian culture who led the Library of Congress for three decades as librarian of Congress, died Nov. 20 at a hospital in Washington. He was 89. An advisor to President Reagan, a skilled fund-raiser for the library, and force unto himself, Billington propelling [...]

November 24, 2018|
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