Page 30 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript Americana - Sale 2310 - April 16, 2013

DANCING WITH THE STARS
51 ● (ARMY.) Collection of West Point dance cards from “The Class the Stars
Fell On.” 56 engraved dance cards completed in manuscript, most with attractive die-cut
lithographed covers in a variety of patterns, a few cards illustrated with pen and ink
drawings, many with attached buttons * and related ephemera, including 2 blank cards;
condition varies, but generally excellent. West Point, NY, 1911-17 [400/600]
A record 59 members of West Point’s class of 1915 reached the rank of general, most notably
five-star general Dwight D. Eisenhower, earning them the nickname “The Class the Stars Fell
On.” This collection of dance cards and other ephemera includes numerous members of the
Class of 1915, and of the years immediately following. Ethel Hill’s card for the Academy’s
“Yale Hop” on 19 October 1912 gives the fifth dance to “Mr. Eisenhauer, 1915” in
manuscript. Later that evening, she also danced with Hubert Harmon, later the founder of the
Air Force Academy. Eisenhower is listed (with his name spelled correctly) as an extra at the 23
November 1912 fall hop. His name is also penciled in as an extra for an undated 1912-13
“Winter Hop.”
Also included is a small collection of related ephemera (8 items), including an engraved
invitation to the Class of 1915’s graduation exercises. The cards were collected by two sisters,
Ruth Hill (1892-1976) and Ethel Hill (1894-1983), daughters of a Manhattan realtor.
Both sisters became teachers and lived in Bronxville, NY. Ruth never married; Ethel later
married and divorced newspaperman Clarence Lovejoy.
52 ● (AVIATION.) Sample contract for aviator Louis Paulhan’s 1910 American
tour. Mimeograph with partial manuscript completions. 3 pages, 13 x 81/2 inches, fastened
at top to docket sheet; folds, minimal wear to contract, docket sheet moderately worn and
soiled. Np, 1910 [300/400]
Louis Paulhan was a French aviator who set several records before embarking on an American
tour in early 1910. This contract was prepared by his manager Edward Cleary for the use of
agent H.H. Gunning, who helped make the arrangements for specific events. Gunning has
signed this contract and filled in the dollar amounts, but the specific dates and places are left
blank. Paulhan would agree to provide at least one flight performance each afternoon, while the
exhibitors were responsible for providing enclosed grounds with enough security to deter unpaid
observers—no easy feat for an aerial exhibition. Paulhan was to receive the first $10,000
taken in, with receipts divided after that point. On the docket sheet, Gunning lists eight cities
where the exhibitions were held, including Los Angeles, Houston, and New Orleans.
53 ● (BANKING.) Issue of the Connecticut Journal on the charter of the Bank
of North America. 4 pages, 14 x 7 3/4 inches, on one sheet; faint dampstaining, stitch
holes along center fold. New Haven, CT, 21 June 1781 [250/350]
The entire first page and part of the second is devoted to the Bank of North America: the plan
submitted to Continental Congress, their resolution chartering the bank, and the lengthy
observations on the plan by Robert Morris. It was the young nation’s first central bank. Also
war news on the movements of Cornwallis and more.