Presidential Signature manuscripts

Autographs of Presidents of the United States donated by Raymond S. Pruitt '09. At the time of its donation in 1958 the collection contained thirty-four signatures - one of every President up to that time, including Eisenhower. Since then the library has requested and received signed letters from additional presidents including Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

The oldest item in the collection is a soldier's discharge signed by George Washington in 1783. The Presidents' signatures are on documents that vary widely in purpose. James Madison signed a land grant certificate in 1817 (land grants were issued for many years, but after Andrew Jackson no presidents signed them; they were signed for the President by designated officials). William Henry Harrison and others signed a legal document, a request to a court for a property settlement. Zachary Taylor's note was signed while he was in office - one of the few instances in the collection, though Lincoln was President when, in January 1864, he signed a rather large document confirming the appointment of an office seeker to the position of auditor in the Treasury. James Buchanan's letter also concerns a government job for an acquaintance - a reminder of the varied efforts made to obtain even low-paying positions.

In 1862 Millard Fillmore, then an ex-President, wrote a note that must have appealed to autograph collectors of later years. He commiserated with the addressee for the recent destruction, by fire, of a collection of autographs, and signed the note to restore as much as he could of this loss. Mr. Pruitt received signed letters directly from four presidents - Hoover, F.D. Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower. These were notes responding to a letter from him or thanking him for his assistance. The note from Richard Nixon is addressed to the faculty and students of DePauw University and comments on the importance of this collection of Presidential autographs. In almost every instance there is a picture of the President to complement the autographed documents.