Famous People Documents

People who change the world may, or may not, be famous in their own lifetimes. Often it takes years for others to understand forward-thinking contributions. This collection introduces you to some of the world's most-famous people

This image depicts the signature page of a letter dated September 25, 1888.  Purportedly from the person who'd murdered victims in the Whitechap...

Bookcover image of James Butler Bonham: Messenger of Defeat, by William N. Bonham.

This is an excerpt from Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland - James VI's Demonology and the North Berwick Witches - by Lawrence Normand and Gareth Rob...

Bookcover image of Hesitant Martyr of the Texas Revolution: James Walker Fannin, by Gary Brown.

This is a facsimile image of the signature page for Japan’s surrender.  The document was signed during a formal surrender ceremony on board...

After his wife died, Thomas Jefferson was devastated.  His daughter Martha, who was ten at the time, said that her father fainted when her mother...

This image depicts the second page of a letter which Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend about two months after his wife died.  In it he reports t...

In 1774, Thomas Jefferson was a delegate to the Virginia Convention.  Representing Albemarle County, Jefferson drafted this set of instructions f...

Jefferson's instructions for Lewis and Clark, June 20, 1803.

Jefferson's letter to Napoleon, regarding the "Louisiana Purchase," is maintained by the National Archives.

President Jefferson asked Congress for $2,500 for the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the West - all the way to the Pacific Ocean. 

The second page of President Jefferson's request to Congress for $2,500 for the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the West - all the way to the Pa...

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