Some of you may know that I have put a lot of time and effort into my passion project, soldierstudies.org. I feel that history should be accessible to everyone and anyone, and that it should be free. The Internet is the logical choice for an open and free database, as the Internet is the ultimate device in the democraticization of information the world has ever seen.
However, collectors, no matter how good intentioned they might be, are doing a disservice to posterity. They are pirates, and they are selfish and self-centered.
These collectors cannot guarantee the safety of these letters once they the collector have passed away. Unfortunately, as is often the case, eager relatives (who could care less) hold massive estate auctions and these letters and diaries are sold to the professional salesman who then sells them to the highest bidder–regardless of what might eventually happen to them.
I have been to estate sales/auctions and it’s serious business.
Even if the said collector is a historian, they are still doing a disservice if they collect and horde for the selfish purpose of making sure no one else can use them for research. Shame on you. That book is already published, years ago. There is no logical reason to hold them, horde them, and keep them away from the public.
On Ebay, there are some fairly expensive collections for sale. Most of these high-priced auctions are from the same seller and are probably from one or more estate auctions.
It really irks me and if I could get transcripts for my database (above), somehow, anyhow… I would do all I could to stop these pirates of history… I assume I am alone on this or no one really cares…
10 Civil War Soldier Letter New York Infantry CW ALS, $6,000.00
Civil War Soldier Letter Lot 130th NY 1st Dragoons, $4,500.00
Robert E Lee Civil War General 1868 Letter Signed, $3,500.00
7 Letters Civil War Soldier Iowa 7th Infantry Battle, $3,000.00
Civil War Soldier Letter Lot 1st New Jersey Infantry, $2,800.00
Ridiculous…
chris, perhaps you could convince some of these “hordes” to either transcribe the letters into electronic format, or allow a soldierstudies.org representative to transcribe them.