Evening star., 1912-11-21
THANKS THE DONOR
President Taft Expresses
Gratitude to J. P. Morgan.
VAL UABLE LETTERS GIVEN
Manuscripts by Signers of Declara-
tion of Independence Presented
to Library of Congress.
jAL LUABLE LETTERS GIVEN

In acknowledgment of a letter from j.
| Pierpont Morgan making a notable gift to
| the Library of Congress of a collection
| of letters or documents of the signers of
the Declaration of independence, Pres-
| dent Taft has written Mr.. Morgan as
| follows:
President Expresses Appreciation.
Il beg to acknowledge the receipt of
your note of November 10, in which you
present to our national library complete
| set of letters or documents of the signers
| of the Declaration of Independence. The
| beautifully bound volume of this set. in
| accordance with your wish, has been
| brought to me by Mr.. Herbert Putnam.
| the librarian.
Il note that you wish to present this
| collection to the United States of America,
| to be placed in the national library, and
administered therein by the library au
thoritieS.
"On behalf of the people Of the United
States l am glad to accept this volume
and to make the deposit in accordance
with the terms of your gift. In their
name / thank you sincerely for the gen.
erosdty and patriotic feeling that prompt
ed this most appropriate gift and the
supplying of an obvious defect In the
collections of our national library-One
which now would be very difficult to fill
collection like yours and except from a
donor, who in the words of your note,
clearly recognizes the good that it will
serve in the custody of the nation whose
beginnings it records"
Mr.. Morgan's Letter of Gift.
Mr.. Morgan's letter to the President
was as follows:
During the recent visit of Mr.. Herbert
pufn ho ri nf sonp fo IN
library. l learned with chagrin and re-
gret that our national library does not
possess a complete set of letters or docu-
ments Of the signers to the Declaration
of Independence.
LAS citizen who appreciates the value
and significance Of such collection, l here
with present to the United States of
America, to be placed in the Library of
Congress and administered therein by the
authorities thereof, a complete bound set
of letters and documents from the sign
ers to the Declaration of Independence,
which, it seems to me. is more fittingly
preserved in the national library than
in that of any Individual
A Rare Collection.
The collection is one Of the few COM
plete collections of such autographs. Most
of them are letters written throughout
by the singers themselves, and all of the
signatures are genuine original auto
graphs The collection includes the sig
natures of Thomas Lynch, jr., and But
ton Gwinnett, known as the two rarest
of the signatures. Lynch (of South Caro-
Iina) went to sea soon after signing the
Declaration. The ship on which he sail
ed was wrecked, and he was lost.
Gwinnett (of Georgia) was shot in duel
by Gen. Lachlan Mcintosh in 1111. There
are also good autographic specimens OF
Lyman Hall and John Hart. whose auto
graphs are almost as rare as those of
Gwinnett and Lynch, and of the signers
better known-Adams, Jefferson, etc
there are, of course, excellent examples,
and in the case of many of them not
merely one, but several documents.