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Famed Manuscripts and Autographs from The Raab Collection Queen Elizabeth document on the cover of Raab Collection catalogue 51. By Michael Stillman The Raab Collection has just issued its 51st catalogue of autographs, manuscripts and other signed material. Raab items are always from the first tier of collecting. The signers are virtually all household names, and many of the documents relate to some important historical event. Most of the people represented are Americans, but then again, some are as un-American as, say, Queen Elizabeth. Yes, she is in here, as is Peter The Great, Winston Churchill, and David Ben-Gurion. This catalogue is a marvelous piece of history itself, filled with historical vignettes written in the letters of those who were important participants. Here are few of the documents you will find. In September of 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated while attending the Pan American Exhibition in Buffalo. His killer was a deranged anarchist, but his action would lead another man of similar mental state to have a dream. In it, McKinley, lying in state, would rise from his coffin, point to Theodore Roosevelt as his murderer, and tell John Schrank to avenge his death. Schrank did not follow the request, but in 1912, as Roosevelt sought to regain the presidency on the "Bull Moose' ticket, McKinley would tap Schrank on the shoulder and again instruct the latter to avenge his death. This time, Schrank attempted to comply. He would meet up with Roosevelt on campaign in Wisconsin in mid-October. On his way to a rally, Roosevelt rose on the floorboard of his car to acknowledge the crowd. From a few feet away, Schrank aimed his gun at Roosevelt and fired. The bullet struck the former President in the chest, but not until passing through a thick, wadded prepared speech and a metal glasses case in his pocket. The paper and metal slowed the bullet enough to prevent the wound from being fatal. Roosevelt, being the bull moose he was, refused medical attention, insisting on going ahead and delivering his speech, despite the bullet lodged inside of him. He raised the copy of his speech in front of the crowd and showed where the bullet had passed through. Roosevelt spoke for an hour and a half before briefly visiting a Milwaukee hospital and then traveling to Chicago, where he was hospitalized for over a week. T.R. was a great man, but was as crazy as Schrank that day for not seeking immediate medical attention. Item 27 is page 6 of that very speech Roosevelt waved above the crowd that day, in fine shape except for the bullet hole which pierces it. Priced at $30,000.
Famed Manuscripts and Autographs from The Raab Collection Page from Teddy Roosevelt's speech shows where bullet passed through. The aforementioned President McKinley did not have the foresight to carry a long-winded speech in his pocket, so he was not as lucky as Roosevelt when the bullets rang out. McKinley did have the good sense to seek immediate medical attention, but unfortunately, neither proper facilities nor the most appropriate of surgeons were immediately available. Surgery to close the wound was performed by Dr. Matthew Mann, a gynecologist and obstetrician, but not an expert abdominal surgeon. Mann was unable to locate the bullet, so McKinley was sewed up with the bullet still inside of him. For several days he appeared to make progress, but gangrene set in. A week later, McKinley suffered a major reversal, and within little more than a day, he was gone. At the end, even McKinley realized the end was at hand. He spoke his final words, and Dr. Mann was one of the witnesses. Two months later, Mann wrote this letter to Ward S. Huston recounting the President's final words. They were, he wrote, "Good-bye, all, goodbye. It is God's way. His will be done, not ours." He later repeated portions of the hymn "Nearer, my God, to Thee.'" Item 25. $800. In the early 18th century, Peter the Great was lifting Russia out of its feudal stage. However, her ability to rise as a world power required access to the sea, and that could only be through the Baltic. There, Russia had a major adversary, Sweden. It may seem surprising today, but at one time Sweden was a major world power. The result of this conflict was the Great Northern War. Russian forces under Mikhail Golitsyn would beat down the Swedes with attacks on their ports from 1719-1721. It would be the end of Sweden as a power, and the emergence of Russia as one. Item 4 is a 1719 letter, in Russian, from Peter to General Golitsyn, with advice on how to proceed, but ultimately expressing trust in the General's judgment. $8,500. If you are an autograph collector, and many readers of this catalogue surely are, then you are in good stead. It is not well known, but Franklin D. Roosevelt was an autograph collector too. Item 32 is a brief note from FDR enclosing a check for $10 for some autographs he purchased. It was written from the New York State capital in Albany, where Roosevelt served as governor, on March 30, 1932. That fall, he would be elected president in a landslide. $2,000. How much does one get paid to make the dreadful decision whether to drop the atomic bomb, and to bring the world's greatest war to an end? The answer is $4,884.95. Item 36 is President Harry Truman's paycheck for August, 1945, the month in which those decisions were made and the war brought to a close. It was issued on September 23, and the back is endorsed, naturally, by Truman. He certainly earned his pay that month. $8,500.
Famed Manuscripts and Autographs from The Raab Collection Harry Truman's paycheck for August 1945. He was one of the fastest rising politicians in American history, a unifying reform governor who became a confrontational and controversial vice-president, and ultimately one of the nation's most disgraced politicians. Of course, we could be talking about no one other than Spiro Agnew, disgraced vice-president of the most disgraced president ever, Richard Nixon. Agnew was an obscure Baltimore County Executive in 1966 when he decided to run for governor of Maryland. Due to a split in the dominant Democratic Party, he squeezed through for the upset victory. Two years later, despite cries of "Spiro who?" Nixon selected him as his running mate. However, the moderate Agnew quickly settled into the role of Nixon's hatchet man, or "Nixon's Nixon" as they used to say. After years of harsh rhetoric, there was little sympathy for Agnew on the other side of the aisle when reports emerged that he had accepted bribes as Governor. For his part, Agnew believed Nixon was behind the reports, an attempt to deflect attention from the scandals now surrounding the President. Unfortunately for Agnew, the case against him was too strong. He pleaded no contest to avoid trial and resigned from the vice-presidency. Were it not for his own scandals, Agnew would have become president when the Watergate scandal later forced Nixon from office too. Item 43 is a collection of correspondence from Agnew to Diane Bouyoucas, a relative of the priest who performed the marriage of Agnew's son. The correspondence begins in May of 1973, before news of the scandal broke, and continues until August 1996, a month before he died. After his resignation, Agnew wrote, "I can only reaffirm my innocence to you and hope...that you will try to understand that I believe the actions I have taken are in the best interest of the nation." In the following years, messages are more personal in nature. To Miss Bouyoucas marrying a non-Greek, Agnew writes, "My son married a Greek girl. They are now divorced. It doesn't always work as well as the old folks claim." In 1992 he laments all of the "back-biting" in politics and "vacuous photo opportunities." In his final letter a month before he died, Agnew notes, "...at my age there are a lot of people and places that escape me." He also apologizes for not being able to respond to every letter but, "I am so terribly busy and my correspondence load is heavy for a one person office." The final piece in the collection is a note of thanks from Agnew's family for Miss Bouyoucas' condolences when he passed away on September 17, 1996. $2,500. Among the other famed persons represented in this catalogue are Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John and John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, King George IV, Robert E. Lee, U.S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Andrew Johnson, Walt Whitman, John D. Rockefeller, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower, Albert Einstein, Bill Clinton, and George Clinton (the New York Governor, not the funk musician). The Raab Collection is located online at www.raabcollection.com, phone number 800-977-8333.

Famed Manuscripts and Autographs from The Raab Collection

Queen Elizabeth document on the cover of Raab Collection catalogue 51.

By Michael Stillman

The Raab Collection has just issued its 51st catalogue of autographs, manuscripts and other signed material. Raab items are always from the first tier of collecting. The signers are virtually all household names, and many of the documents relate to some important historical event. Most of the people represented are Americans, but then again, some are as un-American as, say, Queen Elizabeth. Yes, she is in here, as is Peter The Great, Winston Churchill, and David Ben-Gurion. This catalogue is a marvelous piece of history itself, filled with historical vignettes written in the letters of those who were important participants. Here are few of the documents you will find.

In September of 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated while attending the Pan American Exhibition in Buffalo. His killer was a deranged anarchist, but his action would lead another man of similar mental state to have a dream. In it, McKinley, lying in state, would rise from his coffin, point to Theodore Roosevelt as his murderer, and tell John Schrank to avenge his death. Schrank did not follow the request, but in 1912, as Roosevelt sought to regain the presidency on the "Bull Moose' ticket, McKinley would tap Schrank on the shoulder and again instruct the latter to avenge his death. This time, Schrank attempted to comply. He would meet up with Roosevelt on campaign in Wisconsin in mid-October. On his way to a rally, Roosevelt rose on the floorboard of his car to acknowledge the crowd. From a few feet away, Schrank aimed his gun at Roosevelt and fired. The bullet struck the former President in the chest, but not until passing through a thick, wadded prepared speech and a metal glasses case in his pocket. The paper and metal slowed the bullet enough to prevent the wound from being fatal. Roosevelt, being the bull moose he was, refused medical attention, insisting on going ahead and delivering his speech, despite the bullet lodged inside of him. He raised the copy of his speech in front of the crowd and showed where the bullet had passed through. Roosevelt spoke for an hour and a half before briefly visiting a Milwaukee hospital and then traveling to Chicago, where he was hospitalized for over a week. T.R. was a great man, but was as crazy as Schrank that day for not seeking immediate medical attention. Item 27 is page 6 of that very speech Roosevelt waved above the crowd that day, in fine shape except for the bullet hole which pierces it. Priced at $30,000.

Famed Manuscripts and Autographs from The Raab Collection

Page from Teddy Roosevelt's speech shows where bullet passed through.

The aforementioned President McKinley did not have the foresight to carry a long-winded speech in his pocket, so he was not as lucky as Roosevelt when the bullets rang out. McKinley did have the good sense to seek immediate medical attention, but unfortunately, neither proper facilities nor the most appropriate of surgeons were immediately available. Surgery to close the wound was performed by Dr. Matthew Mann, a gynecologist and obstetrician, but not an expert abdominal surgeon. Mann was unable to locate the bullet, so McKinley was sewed up with the bullet still inside of him. For several days he appeared to make progress, but gangrene set in. A week later, McKinley suffered a major reversal, and within little more than a day, he was gone. At the end, even McKinley realized the end was at hand. He spoke his final words, and Dr. Mann was one of the witnesses. Two months later, Mann wrote this letter to Ward S. Huston recounting the President's final words. They were, he wrote, "Good-bye, all, goodbye. It is God's way. His will be done, not ours." He later repeated portions of the hymn "Nearer, my God, to Thee.'" Item 25. $800.

In the early 18th century, Peter the Great was lifting Russia out of its feudal stage. However, her ability to rise as a world power required access to the sea, and that could only be through the Baltic. There, Russia had a major adversary, Sweden. It may seem surprising today, but at one time Sweden was a major world power. The result of this conflict was the Great Northern War. Russian forces under Mikhail Golitsyn would beat down the Swedes with attacks on their ports from 1719-1721. It would be the end of Sweden as a power, and the emergence of Russia as one. Item 4 is a 1719 letter, in Russian, from Peter to General Golitsyn, with advice on how to proceed, but ultimately expressing trust in the General's judgment. $8,500.

If you are an autograph collector, and many readers of this catalogue surely are, then you are in good stead. It is not well known, but Franklin D. Roosevelt was an autograph collector too. Item 32 is a brief note from FDR enclosing a check for $10 for some autographs he purchased. It was written from the New York State capital in Albany, where Roosevelt served as governor, on March 30, 1932. That fall, he would be elected president in a landslide. $2,000.

How much does one get paid to make the dreadful decision whether to drop the atomic bomb, and to bring the world's greatest war to an end? The answer is $4,884.95. Item 36 is President Harry Truman's paycheck for August, 1945, the month in which those decisions were made and the war brought to a close. It was issued on September 23, and the back is endorsed, naturally, by Truman. He certainly earned his pay that month. $8,500.

Famed Manuscripts and Autographs from The Raab Collection

Harry Truman's paycheck for August 1945.

He was one of the fastest rising politicians in American history, a unifying reform governor who became a confrontational and controversial vice-president, and ultimately one of the nation's most disgraced politicians. Of course, we could be talking about no one other than Spiro Agnew, disgraced vice-president of the most disgraced president ever, Richard Nixon. Agnew was an obscure Baltimore County Executive in 1966 when he decided to run for governor of Maryland. Due to a split in the dominant Democratic Party, he squeezed through for the upset victory. Two years later, despite cries of "Spiro who?" Nixon selected him as his running mate. However, the moderate Agnew quickly settled into the role of Nixon's hatchet man, or "Nixon's Nixon" as they used to say. After years of harsh rhetoric, there was little sympathy for Agnew on the other side of the aisle when reports emerged that he had accepted bribes as Governor. For his part, Agnew believed Nixon was behind the reports, an attempt to deflect attention from the scandals now surrounding the President. Unfortunately for Agnew, the case against him was too strong. He pleaded no contest to avoid trial and resigned from the vice-presidency. Were it not for his own scandals, Agnew would have become president when the Watergate scandal later forced Nixon from office too.

Item 43 is a collection of correspondence from Agnew to Diane Bouyoucas, a relative of the priest who performed the marriage of Agnew's son. The correspondence begins in May of 1973, before news of the scandal broke, and continues until August 1996, a month before he died. After his resignation, Agnew wrote, "I can only reaffirm my innocence to you and hope...that you will try to understand that I believe the actions I have taken are in the best interest of the nation." In the following years, messages are more personal in nature. To Miss Bouyoucas marrying a non-Greek, Agnew writes, "My son married a Greek girl. They are now divorced. It doesn't always work as well as the old folks claim." In 1992 he laments all of the "back-biting" in politics and "vacuous photo opportunities." In his final letter a month before he died, Agnew notes, "...at my age there are a lot of people and places that escape me." He also apologizes for not being able to respond to every letter but, "I am so terribly busy and my correspondence load is heavy for a one person office." The final piece in the collection is a note of thanks from Agnew's family for Miss Bouyoucas' condolences when he passed away on September 17, 1996. $2,500.

Among the other famed persons represented in this catalogue are Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John and John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, King George IV, Robert E. Lee, U.S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Andrew Johnson, Walt Whitman, John D. Rockefeller, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower, Albert Einstein, Bill Clinton, and George Clinton (the New York Governor, not the funk musician).

The Raab Collection is located online at www.raabcollection.com, phone number 800-977-8333.