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A collection of letters, engravings, prints, portraits, caricatures, other illustrations, and printed materials relating to Charles Dickens. Among the letters is an autograph letter by Dickens and copies of several Dickens letters to the publishers Lea & Blanchard. Many of the illustrations are portraits of Dickens while others are illustrations for his novels and stories, including numerous illustrations of scenes from dramatic versions of his works as well as some playbills for these productions.

This collection includes nine letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson as well as letters of Louis Agassiz, Amos Bronson Alcott, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, John Lothrop Motley, Charles Sumner, and John Greenleaf Whittier. In addition, there are two incomplete manuscripts by Emerson and one document from the Liverpool Custom-house signed by Nathaniel Hawthorne as Consul for the United States. The collection also includes the corrected typescript, index, and page and galley proofs for Thomas Franklin Currier, A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (New York, 1953) which was edited by Professor Tilton. Also, some early correspondence and photographs of the Tilton family and friends. There are letters from the actors Annie Louise Ames, Richard J. Dillon, and Hans L. Meery to Tilton's grandfather, Bernard Paul Verne, as well as photographs, tintypes, and daguerreotypes of the Verne family and friends.

Letters, manuscripts, prints, portraits, memorabilia, clipping, pamphlets, and other printed materials relating to Abraham Lincoln and his contemporaries. Included are four autograph letters from Lincoln, two of which are photostatic copies; one letter each from Salmon P. Chase, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Horace Greeley, and Robert Lincoln; two manuscript passes (military); a bust of Lincoln; a cast of his hands and a reconstruction of Lincoln's library. Also, five letters from Hill to his grandson David Schrady Hill, and typescripts of his sermons and speeches.

Black and white glass slides of theaters, actors, and actors in productions, portraits depicting contemporary costumes beginning with Greek amphitheaters. Most of the slides are from contemporary 19th-century prints.

Personal and professional correspondence, including 25 long letters from Professor Henry F. Herbig; manuscripts (mainly speeches); specifications for patents in electrical fields; technical and personal photographs; and memorabilia. Included is a copy of the famous "shot in hand" x-ray photograph, ca. 1896, one of the first ever to be taken. This collection also contains the correspondence, manuscripts, documents, and memorabilia of Professor Pupin's daughter, Varvara Smith, and his son-in-law, Louis Graham Smith. His daughter's letters and documents deal with her financial difficulties, her administration of Pupin's estate and her claims against Columbia University. Louis G. Smith's letters deal with his anti-Communist sentiments and his manuscripts are mainly ideas for popular songs and plays. There are three letters (photostatic copies) to Smith from Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Contemporary engravings, lithographs, carte-de-visite photographs, and memorabilia; 20th century drawings and reproductions of portraits of Lincoln, his family, and his contemporaries. Among the portraits of Lincoln are a charcoal sketch by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, lithographs by Currier and Ives, photographs by Mathew Brady and his studio. Memorabilia in the collection include bookends and sculptures, a dinner plate, a carved plaque, a reproduction of a death mask, a mourning ribbon, silk commemorative badges, and a hair ornament worn by Mrs Lincoln, in a leather-covered trinket box with the President's initials on it.

Theatrical memorabilia such as programs, playbills, photographs, engravings, and prints. Although there are some playbills as early as 1770, most of the material is from the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition to plays there is some material relating to concerts, operettas, musical comedies, musical revues, and movies. The majority of the collection centers around Shakespeare. Included with an unbound copy of each play (The Edinburgh Shakespeare Folio Edition) there are portraits, engravings, and photographs of actors in their roles; playbills; programs; cast lists; other types of illustrative material; reviews of various productions; and other printed material. Such well known names as George Arliss, Sarah Bernhardt, the Booths, John Drew, the Barrymores, and William Gillette are included in this collection.