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A “rare” presidential artifact long held in private hands is now on public view in Indiana — at least for the summer.
The original, signed reading copy of President Benjamin Harrison’s 1889 inaugural address — the same manuscript he held while delivering his speech at the U.S. Capitol — is on display at his presidential site in Indianapolis, but the document remains up for sale.
The piece is on loan from The Raab Collection, a Philadelphia-based firm that specializes in historical documents. It stayed in the Harrison family for generations before the firm acquired it 15 years ago. Previously sold on the private market, the address is now up for grabs publicly for the first time.
The Raab Collection is asking $225,000 for the artifact but has stopped “actively marketing” the manuscript and put potential sales “on hold” while it’s on display, a spokesperson told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. Once returned to the collection in September, it will again be for sale.
The document, complete with Harrison’s handwritten edits, is one of the few known inaugural address manuscripts still in private hands — and one of even fewer to be personally signed and used during delivery.
The reading copy is now the centerpiece of the “Treasures of the Harrison Collection” exhibit, on display through Aug. 30. It’s being shown alongside an annotated version of the same speech that belongs to the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site’s permanent collection.
“We all love Harrison — he had the original dynastic family. … And this inaugural address is kind of a gem for us,” said Nathan Raab, president of The Raab Collection, during a visit to Harrison’s presidential home this week. “The hard part isn’t selling it. The hard part is finding it. And we’re showing the world the history that we’re finding.”
How the speech resurfaced
The Raab Collection specializes in rare, “historically significant” documents from the likes of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and other notable figures. Its inventory includes presidential letters, signed speeches and personal correspondence — many of which have been acquired by major museums, libraries, universities, and archives across the country, Raab said.
He emphasized that many of the collection’s rarest historical items come from attics, family storage boxes, and sometimes people “unsure of what they’re holding.”
“We are their first call,” he said. “These are people who have this thing that they know has some value, and they don’t know who to leave it to.”
“Their kids don’t have any interest and they sense that it will be lost or forgotten if they don’t do something with it,” he continued. “And at that point, the money is more valuable to them than the thing.”
The Harrison inaugural address came to the firm from a descendant of the president — “a man whose name is still Harrison,” Raab said — who had inherited a “huge family archive.” The Raab Collection purchased the speech, along with other personal artifacts and letters.
Several Harrison-related pieces currently available from The Raab Collection include correspondence between the president and his family, a report sent to Congress, and his order admitting the state of Washington. They range in price from $2,500 to $50,000.
Although not on the market, Raab said the firm additionally purchased unique items connected to Harrison grandfather, President William Henry Harrison, like a signed lottery ticket and a Congressional Gold Medal given to for his service in the War of 1812.
On view through August
Harrison, among Indiana’s most famous residents, and the only president to have hailed directly from the Hoosier state, was a Civil War general and lawyer who descended from an already political family.
He was the great-grandson of Declaration of Independence signer Benjamin Harrison, the grandson of President William Henry Harrison, and son of Congressman John Scott Harrison.
Harrison added to that legacy, first serving as a U.S. senator, and then as president when he narrowly defeated the incumbent Grover Cleveland in the election of 1888.
Harrison’s inaugural address was well-received and is still considered by historians to be among the best
The manuscript Harrison pulled from his pocket is the same one for sale. The Raab Collection said it numbers 37 single-sided pages on watermarked paper.
Considering Harrison’s known practice was to annotate documents immediately after events, Raab said it’s assumed that the former president signed and added this note right after the address: “This is the MSS [manuscript] used by me in delivering the address March 4, 1889.”
Harrison had the sheets bound in a small book, which was handed down from generation to generation in the Harrison family.
Raab did not disclose how much the manuscript was previously bought or sold for.
He said the collection’s research has failed to turn up “even one” other delivered manuscript, a “reading copy,” of an inaugural address having reached the market.
Separately, however, the Harrison presidential site in Indianapolis has long retained in its archive an annotated version of the same speech. That piece continues to be on display in one of the museum’s exhibits.
The Library of Congress additionally holds three drafts of Harrison’s inaugural address.
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