AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ARCHIVES

Andrew Johnson 1808-1875

Andrew Johnson 1865-1869

Andrew Johnson signed Diplomatic appointment for Edwin F. Cook to be Secretary of the U.S. Legation to Chile, Dated the 18th of January 1866. (Johnson injured his arm early in his administration, and most of his later signatures were stamped facsimiles).

The Natchez & Robert E. Lee 1870

Gold gilt and enameled hand-carved "Riverboat Art" mask. This mask was worn during many a melodrama aboard the sidewheeler "Natchez". Circa 1865

Ulysses S. Grant 1822-1885

Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877

Ulysses S. Grant signed Presidential Appointment for H.C.Bennett to be Pension Agent for the port of San Francisco, Dated the 15th day of May, 1869

Julia Boggs Dent Grant 1826-1902

Mrs. Julia Dent Grant 1870

A pair of Mrs. Julia Grant's reading glasses, circa 1870. Mrs. Grant suffered all her life from Crossed eyes which made it difficult for her to focus correctly. Once while she was First Lady Mrs. Grant was offered the chance to have her eyes corrected by a noted Washington surgeon, but President Grant nixed the idea, saying that the operation would surely ruin her looks. In fact, he liked her cross-eyed!

Schuyler Colfax Jr. 1823-1885

Schuyler Colfax Jr. V.P. 1869-1873

Vice President Schuyler Colfax Jr. Hand-writted letter to "Major........." while he was Speaker of The House of Representatives, Dated January 21st, 1866. Schuyler was VP under U.S. Grant 1869-1873, losing the Vice Presidential re-nomination in 1872 while under the cloud of having taken a bribe from the Union Pacific Railroad. Although he was never formally charged with a crime, he was replaced on the ticket by Henry Wilson of Massachusetts.

Parlor chairs, like the one on the left, quickly turned into "Toilet Facilities" for inhabitants of the White House in the years before indoor plumbing. "Can't you just see Abraham Lincoln on one of these chairs?"

Henry Wilson 1812-1875

Henry Wilson, V.P. 1873-1875

Senator Henry Wilson's letter to his wife, Harriet, complaining of homesickness and thoughts of their dead son while visiting Goldsboro, North Carolina, dated April 26th, 1867. Wilson would later become President Grant's second Vice President. He would die in office on November 22cd, 1875.

Single Shot "Hero" Boot Pistol (The poor man's Derringer), the type carried by many Riverboat carpet-baggers during the early years of reconstruction. Made by the Manhattan Arms Co. during the years 1868-1873.