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| Up From the Family Basement, a Little-Seen Hamilton Trove | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Starting on Wednesday, Hamil-fans will be able to enjoy a double dose of America’s newly favorite founding father: a public exhibition of a trove of documents held privately for more than two centuries by descendants of Alexander Hamilton, in a display at Sotheby’s designed by David Korins, the set designer for the musical “Hamilton.” | Starting on Wednesday, Hamil-fans will be able to enjoy a double dose of America’s newly favorite founding father: a public exhibition of a trove of documents held privately for more than two centuries by descendants of Alexander Hamilton, in a display at Sotheby’s designed by David Korins, the set designer for the musical “Hamilton.” |
| But one morning last month, many of the documents, which will be auctioned on Jan. 18, were spread on a table in a conference room at Sotheby’s Manhattan headquarters. Joanne Freeman, a historian at Yale and a leading expert on Hamilton, had come to look through them. | But one morning last month, many of the documents, which will be auctioned on Jan. 18, were spread on a table in a conference room at Sotheby’s Manhattan headquarters. Joanne Freeman, a historian at Yale and a leading expert on Hamilton, had come to look through them. |
| Ms. Freeman is a seasoned archive hound, but this was no ordinary day at the office. When Selby Kiffer, an international senior specialist at the auction house, pulled out a simple sheet inside a protective plastic sleeve, she fell into a hush. | Ms. Freeman is a seasoned archive hound, but this was no ordinary day at the office. When Selby Kiffer, an international senior specialist at the auction house, pulled out a simple sheet inside a protective plastic sleeve, she fell into a hush. |
| “This is one of the most consequential documents in American history,” Mr. Kiffer said, holding up the 1777 commission naming Hamilton, then a promising but obscure military officer, aide-de-camp to Gen. George Washington. | “This is one of the most consequential documents in American history,” Mr. Kiffer said, holding up the 1777 commission naming Hamilton, then a promising but obscure military officer, aide-de-camp to Gen. George Washington. |
| “Without this,” he said, “we very likely wouldn’t be sitting here talking about Alexander Hamilton.” | “Without this,” he said, “we very likely wouldn’t be sitting here talking about Alexander Hamilton.” |
| The wild success of the musical has turned the historical A.Ham himself into a cultural celebrity, and sent museums and other institutions into their back rooms, looking for Hamiltonia to show off. The hundreds of documents at Sotheby’s, which were consigned by a sixth-generation descendant of Alexander and Elizabeth Hamilton, had been stored in a trunk in the family basement, though some items, like that 1777 commission, had been put on a pedestal of sorts over the years. | The wild success of the musical has turned the historical A.Ham himself into a cultural celebrity, and sent museums and other institutions into their back rooms, looking for Hamiltonia to show off. The hundreds of documents at Sotheby’s, which were consigned by a sixth-generation descendant of Alexander and Elizabeth Hamilton, had been stored in a trunk in the family basement, though some items, like that 1777 commission, had been put on a pedestal of sorts over the years. |
| “I probably shouldn’t say this, but the commission was on my grandfather’s bathroom wall for years,” David Key, a son of the consignor, said in a telephone interview. “He loved seeing it over the lavatory.” | “I probably shouldn’t say this, but the commission was on my grandfather’s bathroom wall for years,” David Key, a son of the consignor, said in a telephone interview. “He loved seeing it over the lavatory.” |
| Mr. Key, an agricultural economist who lives in New York City, said that his mother had always taught her children to take pride in their illustrious forebear, but not too much. | Mr. Key, an agricultural economist who lives in New York City, said that his mother had always taught her children to take pride in their illustrious forebear, but not too much. |
| “She would always say, ‘You know, we come from a real bastard,’” he said. “But it wasn’t enthroned in our family as some godlike thing.” | “She would always say, ‘You know, we come from a real bastard,’” he said. “But it wasn’t enthroned in our family as some godlike thing.” |
| The commission, which carries an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000, is only one of the emotionally charged high-ticket items in the sale, whose 77 lots are expected to fetch a total of $1.4 million to $2.1 million. There are several passionate early love letters from Hamilton to his wife, Elizabeth, as well as the only known surviving letter to Hamilton from his son Philip, complete with a hole, torn by sealing wax, that eerily evokes the younger man’s death in a duel in 1801. | The commission, which carries an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000, is only one of the emotionally charged high-ticket items in the sale, whose 77 lots are expected to fetch a total of $1.4 million to $2.1 million. There are several passionate early love letters from Hamilton to his wife, Elizabeth, as well as the only known surviving letter to Hamilton from his son Philip, complete with a hole, torn by sealing wax, that eerily evokes the younger man’s death in a duel in 1801. |
| And then there’s a lock of graying hair snipped from Hamilton’s head after his own fatal duel in 1804, which is being sold with a letter of presentation from Elizabeth. | And then there’s a lock of graying hair snipped from Hamilton’s head after his own fatal duel in 1804, which is being sold with a letter of presentation from Elizabeth. |
| When Mr. Kiffer brought it out, Ms. Freeman recoiled slightly, recalling the various “founder hairballs” she had been shown over the years, including a particularly mangy sample from the head of the New York grandee George Clinton. | When Mr. Kiffer brought it out, Ms. Freeman recoiled slightly, recalling the various “founder hairballs” she had been shown over the years, including a particularly mangy sample from the head of the New York grandee George Clinton. |
| “I shrieked,” she said. “It was not taken well.” | “I shrieked,” she said. “It was not taken well.” |
| Hair may be more dramatic, but it’s paper — especially paper that hasn’t been fully mined by earlier scholars — that really gets a historian’s heart pumping. Ms. Freeman, who edited the Library of America edition of Hamilton’s writings, said she had emailed the auction house “within nanoseconds” of hearing about the sale. | Hair may be more dramatic, but it’s paper — especially paper that hasn’t been fully mined by earlier scholars — that really gets a historian’s heart pumping. Ms. Freeman, who edited the Library of America edition of Hamilton’s writings, said she had emailed the auction house “within nanoseconds” of hearing about the sale. |
| “I’ve read through all 27 volumes of his papers many times,” she said. “So just the idea of seeing something I’d never seen before, and all the new puzzle pieces I’d find, was beyond exciting.” | “I’ve read through all 27 volumes of his papers many times,” she said. “So just the idea of seeing something I’d never seen before, and all the new puzzle pieces I’d find, was beyond exciting.” |
| The collection, in addition to numerous unpublished family letters, includes previously unrecorded documents by Hamilton, like the manuscript for one of his so-called Pacificus essays. Those were published pseudonymously in Federalist newspapers in 1793 and 1794 as part of a debate with James Madison over whether to remain neutral in the brewing war between revolutionary France and other European powers. | The collection, in addition to numerous unpublished family letters, includes previously unrecorded documents by Hamilton, like the manuscript for one of his so-called Pacificus essays. Those were published pseudonymously in Federalist newspapers in 1793 and 1794 as part of a debate with James Madison over whether to remain neutral in the brewing war between revolutionary France and other European powers. |
| There are also Hamilton’s notes for Washington’s third annual address to Congress, from 1791, dashed off on an envelope-size scrap. “It’s so of the moment,” Ms. Freeman said, “like he jotted it down and said, ‘Here you go, Mr. President!’” | There are also Hamilton’s notes for Washington’s third annual address to Congress, from 1791, dashed off on an envelope-size scrap. “It’s so of the moment,” Ms. Freeman said, “like he jotted it down and said, ‘Here you go, Mr. President!’” |
| Some documents also bear traces of earlier efforts to smooth out some of Hamilton’s rougher edges. A letter about the contentious 1796 presidential election, for example, includes a blacked-out passage that seems to include “something really nasty” about John Adams, as Ms. Freeman put it. | Some documents also bear traces of earlier efforts to smooth out some of Hamilton’s rougher edges. A letter about the contentious 1796 presidential election, for example, includes a blacked-out passage that seems to include “something really nasty” about John Adams, as Ms. Freeman put it. |
| It’s unclear whether the passage was obliterated by Hamilton or by someone else — like his son John Church Hamilton, who prepared a 19th-century edition of Hamilton’s papers that “suppressed some correspondence,” Mr. Kiffer said. | It’s unclear whether the passage was obliterated by Hamilton or by someone else — like his son John Church Hamilton, who prepared a 19th-century edition of Hamilton’s papers that “suppressed some correspondence,” Mr. Kiffer said. |
| There is also a group of letters relating to the first of the 10 “affairs of honor,” or challenges that did not result in an actual duel, that Hamilton is known to have been involved in. And there are seemingly banal documents that take on a foreboding quality in retrospect, like an anonymous memorandum, sent to one of Hamilton’s brothers-in-law in June 1804, describing a recent town meeting in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. | There is also a group of letters relating to the first of the 10 “affairs of honor,” or challenges that did not result in an actual duel, that Hamilton is known to have been involved in. And there are seemingly banal documents that take on a foreboding quality in retrospect, like an anonymous memorandum, sent to one of Hamilton’s brothers-in-law in June 1804, describing a recent town meeting in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. |
| Fierce arguments had broken out over whether, should a toast be called for President Thomas Jefferson at the town’s Fourth of July celebrations, “the vice president should also be toasted as such” — out of respect for the office, if not for the man himself. | Fierce arguments had broken out over whether, should a toast be called for President Thomas Jefferson at the town’s Fourth of July celebrations, “the vice president should also be toasted as such” — out of respect for the office, if not for the man himself. |
| In the margin, someone has helpfully penciled in that vice president’s name: Aaron Burr. | In the margin, someone has helpfully penciled in that vice president’s name: Aaron Burr. |
| Hamilton’s fatal duel with Burr a few weeks later may seem utterly senseless to us now. But it was fought, Ms. Freeman said, out of Hamilton’s belief that he needed to preserve his honor so he could lead the country through what he foresaw as an impending crisis of American democracy. | Hamilton’s fatal duel with Burr a few weeks later may seem utterly senseless to us now. But it was fought, Ms. Freeman said, out of Hamilton’s belief that he needed to preserve his honor so he could lead the country through what he foresaw as an impending crisis of American democracy. |
| Today’s partisans do not generally come to physical blows. But Ms. Freeman, whose recently completed book about violence in Congress in the decades before the Civil War will be published next year, said that Hamilton’s papers offered a timely reminder that the hard-won norms of American democracy should not be taken for granted. | Today’s partisans do not generally come to physical blows. But Ms. Freeman, whose recently completed book about violence in Congress in the decades before the Civil War will be published next year, said that Hamilton’s papers offered a timely reminder that the hard-won norms of American democracy should not be taken for granted. |
| “People tend to assume the system percolates happily along,” she said. “But it sure wasn’t percolating happily along here. This was a period where it could have collapsed at any second.” | “People tend to assume the system percolates happily along,” she said. “But it sure wasn’t percolating happily along here. This was a period where it could have collapsed at any second.” |