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

President Truman wrote this note on the back of a photograph depicting him with Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference. The President was mistaken, ...

President Truman responded to Henry Stimson's message of July 30, 1945 by writing on the reverse side of that cable.  This is the only written, p...

This document depicts the second page of President Truman's 6 August 1945 press release regarding America's use of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima. He...

This map depicts the location of Tuscumbia, Alabama - the town in which Helen Keller was born.

The Commission of Ulysses S. Grant as Lieutenant General of the United States Army, signed by Abraham Lincoln.

This illustration - from the 1852 title page of Uncle Tom's Cabin - is by Hammatt Billings.  It depicts the characters Chloe, Mose, Pete, Baby an...

When Theo's wife, Jo, edited the correspondence between her husband and his brother, she made a note about a July 23rd letter which Vincent did not ma...

This image depicts a document - written on the 10th of September, 1963 - setting forth a proposed U.S. government policy regarding developing issues i...

Vincent was thirty-five years old when he wrote this 24 September 1888 letter to his brother, Theo.  He was in Arles at the time.   My d...

Vincent van Gogh wrote this March 24, 1873, letter to his brother Theo.  In it, he asks him to check on a painting by Schotel ((Johannes Christia...

The U.S. War Department issued a statement about the assassination of President Lincoln as soon as information was available.  This is a facsimil...

The War Department issued a news release regarding the shooting of President Lincoln on the evening of April 14, 1865.  This is a facsimile image...

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