Sale 2483 - Revolutionary & Presidential Americana, June 21, 2018

When I entered the sixth grade, my family enrolled me in a school in Worcester, Massachusetts. The school was located a half mile from the American Antiquarian Society (AAS), a world-renowned research library for printed Americana that predated 1876. My father’s plan was for me to walk to the Society where he was to pick me up on his way home from work. Among the AAS archives were pre- Revolutionary newspapers including The Massachusetts Spy, which was published and printed by the Society’s founder, Isaiah Thomas. Fortunately, I was allowed access to the library stacks (policies have significantly changed since then) and to the Spy . Every day, while waiting for my father, I read Revolutionary newspapers, and every day, I underwent a metamorphosis: I became Johnny Tremain dumping tea into Boston harbor; a post rider carrying the news; or a friend to Dr. Joseph Warren and Paul Revere. In 1955, at the age of 16, I contracted polio, which permanently affected my muscles from the chest down. Naturally, neurophysiology became a significant interest. My studies and early career explored the way systems in the body interact with one another. Scientific observation, hypothesizing, and proof influenced me throughout my collecting career. I found the same excitement of discovery whether it came from interpreting experimental data or the events surrounding the writing of an Autograph Letter Signed. Short stints in computer programming, sales to manufacturers, industrial engineering and purchasing followed. I came to realize that the same systems that manage the physiology of an organism, such as negative feedback and competitive inhibition, could be applied to the processes within a factory. My mentor, Hudson Hoagland, called this my “Aha Moment.” I began consulting for manufacturing companies, applying the analogy of the systems of the body to that of a manufacturing floor. My approach to collecting was similar to the questioning in my research and in my interactions with factories. Just as I asked where each manufacturing event fits within the whole, I looked to my own collection for answers to my questions: why did so many colonials abandon their plows and answer the Concord alarm? Why was Andrew Jackson so fiscally inept? Who really killed James A. Garfield? How did Franklin D. Roosevelt organize the rehabilitation center at Warm Springs? One important guiding principle in my collecting career has been to develop a handful of historical themes rather than acquire many stand-alone items. Assembling parts of a continuous story is a process that never ends, as the “story” keeps expanding and inviting new questions. I sincerely hope that there are some answers for other collectors in this offering. — WILLIAM WHEELER III