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

When John Dillinger used a wooden gun to escape from the Lake County jail in Crown Point, Indiana, Melvin Purvis sent Director Hoover a telegram. ...

From the first biography of Frederick Douglass, this image depicts the author's comments about his subject. Click on the image for a better view.

  How did Beethoven react to the death of his brother Karl, who had been ill for some time?  We can look to his letters to answer that ques...

This document, from the National Archives, is the draft of President Reagan's famous speech which he delivered in Berlin.  Included here is the p...

This image, of Galileo's recantation, depicts the ending section.  The document, which he actually signed, eliminated two points which the Cardin...

Facsimile of the verdict in the trial of United States v. Susan B. Anthony. Click on the image for a better view.

This once-top-secret document, dated 2 October 1963, is the first page of a report which is part of the "Pentagon Papers." Robert McNamara and Maxwell...

Image of a report called Affidavit of Surgeon reporting on 1st Cabin survivors picked up by the Carpathia. Click on the image for a better view.

Wyatt Earp resigned his position as Sheriff of Pima County (Arizona Territory) on the 9th of November, 1880.  The original document had been stor...

Two years to the day before he died of a gunshot wound in Los Angeles, Senator Robert F. Kennedy delivered a major speech in South Africa.  On t...

This is a facsimile of the Amnesty Oath signed by Robert E. Lee, swearing loyalty to the United States. 

When Jackie Robinson was called-up from the Montreal Royals (the Dodgers' farm club) to the Brooklyn Dodgers (a Major-League team), the news quickly t...

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