On April 14, 1865, the actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth (1838–1865) killed President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) during a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only 5 days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Booth went into hiding, but was found and killed two weeks later by Union troops. Four of his co-conspirators, including David Herold (1842–1865) and Mary Surratt (1823–1865), mother of John (1844–1916), were convicted and hanged on July 7, 1865. Gift of J. Dennis Delafield, Class of 1957, and Penelope D. Johnson. Delafield Family Papers, Manuscripts Division.
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This broadside is the earliest surviving New Mexico imprint, issued while New Mexico was still a part of the Republic of Mexico. It lists the names of men in Santa Fe required, by Mexican law, to serve as jurors in cases involving printing libels and freedom of the press. Western Americana Collection, Rare Book Division.
This broadside is an icon of the antislavery moment in England and the United States. It appeared after Parliament passed an act in 1788 that limited the number of slaves that could be transported on a ship and made visually striking the inhumanity of the statistics in the explanatory text. By the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 copies had been issued. The support it generated helped to end the slave trade (but not slavery) in the British Empire in 1807. Acquired with support from Sidney Lapidus, Class of 1959. Rare Book Division.