March 5, 2024Rick StattlerPrinted & Manuscript African Americana Listen to Jackie Robinson Speaking at an Ohio Civil Rights Rally in 1964 Read more about Listen to Jackie Robinson Speaking at an Ohio Civil Rights Rally in 1964 This civil rights rally was held in Columbus, OH, a few months after the March on Washington and just as the congressional fight for the Civil Rights Act approached the…
Read more about Auction Highlights: Printed & Manuscript African Americana — March 21, 2024 February 12, 2024 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Auction Highlights: Printed & Manuscript African Americana — March 21, 2024 One of our largest African Americana auctions to date includes important documentation of the abolition movement, catalogues and posters for exhibits by leading Black artists, previously unseen Black Panther material, and material on Black-owned businesses.
Read more about Nicholas D. Lowry’s Specialist Picks: Favorite Lots from The Subculture Sale January 31, 2024 Vintage Posters Nicholas D. Lowry’s Specialist Picks: Favorite Lots from The Subculture Sale Nicholas D. Lowry shares his picks for The Subculture Sale. Bidding open now through February 8.
Read more about 2023: Year in Review December 19, 2023 Swann 2023: Year in Review Swann Galleries continued to offer exceptional auctions of quality material in 2023. The year featured several collections, including a special selection of 100 works from the Stephen White collection in…
Read more about Printed Manuscript & African Americana: March 24, 2022 Auction Highlights February 23, 2022 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Printed Manuscript & African Americana: March 24, 2022 Auction Highlights Our March 24 Printed Manuscript & African Americana sale will feature important material, from slavery through the civil rights era, as well as noteworthy literature and music, including iconic cornerstone…
Read more about The Voice & Hand of Frederick Douglass November 12, 2020 Autographs The Voice & Hand of Frederick Douglass One’s handwriting is unique unto oneself. For some, the style can remain consistent throughout the years. For others, the features that characterize their handwriting can change depending on circumstance, and…
Read more about Swann Ushers in a New Era of Live Online Sales with Printed & Manuscript African Americana May 20, 2020 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Swann Ushers in a New Era of Live Online Sales with Printed & Manuscript African Americana Our Thursday, May 7, 2020 sale of Printed & Manuscript African Americana was held live online and was conducted remotely. “This was a strong auction regardless of the circumstances. The…
Read more about Printed & Manuscript African Americana: Rescheduled for May 2020 April 16, 2020 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Printed & Manuscript African Americana: Rescheduled for May 2020 Among the highlights will be an 1836 autograph book with inscriptions by noted early African-American orators Moses Roper and Peter Williams. The large section on slavery and abolition will include several runaway broadsides and a miniature printing of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (the only one produced in pamphlet form) intended for soldiers to distribute among the freedmen in the south. Military papers include material written by African-American soldiers, including a Civil War letter and a Spanish-American War diary.
Read more about Romare Bearden’s Letters to Art Historian Harry B. Henderson, Jr. March 26, 2020 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Romare Bearden’s Letters to Art Historian Harry B. Henderson, Jr. Here we take look at letters, postcards and greeting cards from Romare Bearden to his longtime friend and collaborator Harry Henderson, as well as touch on the 2005 sale of Henderson’s art collection that made the establishment of our African-American Fine Art Department possible.
Read more about Listen to Tapes of a 1961 Interview with Leaders of the Atlanta Student Movement March 20, 2020 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Listen to Tapes of a 1961 Interview with Leaders of the Atlanta Student Movement On June 8, 1961, a journalist for The Protestant Hour, a long-running and widely syndicated weekly radio program out of Atlanta, sat down with four leaders of the Atlanta Student Movement to discuss their work in nonviolent direct action. Two reel-to-reel tapes were created as a result of the interview.
Read more about 2010-19: The Decade in Review January 13, 2020 Swann 2010-19: The Decade in Review The 2010s brought Swann a number of notable moments including memorable sales, the establishment of two new departments, and the celebration of the 75th anniversary of our first sale. Here we take a look at some of favorite highlights from the last ten years.
Read more about 2019 Spring Season in Review July 1, 2019 Swann 2019 Spring Season in Review A season of firsts. The 2019 spring auction season at Swann Galleries delivered an impressive range of sales, rife with auction premiers and record prices. We started our season off…
Read more about Cataloguing History: Why We Hold Specialized Auctions June 10, 2019 Auctions 101 Cataloguing History: Why We Hold Specialized Auctions Auctions offer a moment where the sometimes-incalculable significance of an object is quantified. The price is reached through collaboration: specialists, consignors, the market, and finally, bidders convene in the room,…
Read more about Records & Results: Printed & Manuscript African Americana April 2, 2019 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Records & Results: Printed & Manuscript African Americana A Record for The Negro Travelers’ Green Book Among Printed & Manuscript African Americana at Swann Our Printed & Manuscript African Americana on Thursday, March 28 saw a sell-through rate of 90%, a record for the category. Enthusiastic bidding was seen across all…
Read more about Records & Results: Printed & Manuscript African Americana April 2, 2018 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Records & Results: Printed & Manuscript African Americana Institutional purchases dominated the buying field at our auction of Printed & Manuscript African Americana on March 29. The top lots of the auction were almost entirely manuscripts, archives, early…
Read more about Huey Newton’s Portraits & The Founding of the Black Panthers March 23, 2018 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Huey Newton’s Portraits & The Founding of the Black Panthers New findings in our March 29 auction of Printed & Manuscript African-Americana clarify information behind iconic portraits of Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton. Ensconced in a wicker…
Read more about A Look Inside the Catalogue: Printed & Manuscript African Americana January 16, 2018 Printed & Manuscript African Americana A Look Inside the Catalogue: Printed & Manuscript African Americana On March 29 we will offer Printed & Manuscript African Americana, an array of material that encompasses a wide range of the African-American experience, from letters by Frederick Douglass to his…
Read more about Records & Results: Spring 2017 June 16, 2017 Swann Records & Results: Spring 2017 The spring 2017 season at Swann Galleries marked the 75th anniversary of our first auction. On March 27, 1942, Benjamin Swann held an auction dedicated to rare and antiquarian books.…
Read more about John Augustine Washington III & Mount Vernon March 27, 2017 Printed & Manuscript African Americana John Augustine Washington III & Mount Vernon From the catalogue for our March 30 sale of Printed & Manuscript African Americana. The sale will feature a run of 16 lots of letters and ephemera from Mount Vernon…
Read more about Significant George Washington Carver Archive Coming to Auction March 25, 2014 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Significant George Washington Carver Archive Coming to Auction Among the highlights of our March 2014 auction of Printed & Manuscript African Americana is an extraordinary archive of letters written by George Washington Carver between 1925 and 1937. The…
March 13, 2013 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Notes from the Catalogue: The Emancipation Proclamation “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal” declares the extraordinary document brought forth by our founders on July 4, 1776. But as we…