Manuscripts
Decoration Day anti-slavery poem
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Big Sur: [poem]
Manuscripts
A maniscript of a poem donated by Langston Hughes to a special poetry file, at the request of fellow poet Beulah May.
mssHM 63815
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Anti-Slavery Constitutional Amendment photomontage
Visual Materials
A large photographic montage composed of portraits of President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, and the 157 Congressional senators and representatives who voted in favor of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery. An accompanying picture key identifies each of the 159 legislators. The photomontage was produced by George May Powell of Powell & Co. to celebrate the formal legislative adoption of the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, on January 31, 1865. Powell, a Lincoln supporter and statistician in the Treasury Department during the Civil War, produced the image in various sizes, and this item is among the largest. In compiling photographs of the legislators, Powell most likely used many of Mathew Brady's photographic portraits. Lincoln's face is cropped from a photograph taken by Anthony Berger of Brady's studio on February 9, 1864.
photPF 26045
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John Burroughs letter to "Miss White" and poem
Manuscripts
John Burroughs wrote this letter to "Miss White" from his home in West Park, New York, talking about his poem "Waiting" (written in 1862). He explains that the poem reflected his future philosophy of life. Accompanying the letter is a handwritten copy of the poem in Burroughs' hand. Both items are glued on album pages.
mssHM 82430
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Uncle Tom: [poem, 7 drafts] :
Manuscripts
A manuscript of seven drafts of the poem Uncle Tom, donated by Langston Hughes to a special poetry file, at the request of fellow poet Beulah May.
mssHM 63819 (a-g)
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Independence : poem, early draft
Manuscripts
Manuscript (holograph) of an early draft of "Independence," a poem in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. On the reverse: 2 stanzas of verse (in pencil).
mssHM 13186
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The trail of sixty snows : poem
Manuscripts
Typescript of two poems, "The Trail of Sixty Snows," by Cass Hite and "The Death of Hoskinini," by Cy Warman. "The Trail of Sixty Snows" is an autobiographical poem written by Hite on his 60th birthday. It recalls his childhood in "the old prairie State" (Illinois), the departure of his father for the California gold mines, and Hite's decision to travel westward in the 1860s, gold prospecting in Idaho, Arizona, Mexico, and Utah, where he searched for a Navajo mine he calls "El Mino Peso La-ki." The poem is largely in the third person, with Hite referring to himself by his Indian name of Hosteen Pish-la-ki. The second poem, "The Death of Hoskinini," was written by Warman upon the death of Navajo chief Hoskinini. The beginning of this poem describes the roaming spirit of Hoskinini, while the final pages are a continuation of "The Trail of Sixty Snows" and contain more biographical information about Hite, including a reference to the murder charges against him.
mssHM 72349