Autograph Collections Remain Popular Around the Brandywine Valley

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Collecting famous autographs is a quest for both young and old individuals with a passion for history and preservation.

A lifelong resident of Bryn Mawr, Marian S. Carson spent much of her time collecting autographs of famous people. It’s a hobby she pursued almost until she died in 2004. Today, a small portion of what she amassed—mainly letters written by artists in the 1800s—is housed in two large boxes at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Delaware.

One day recently, library director Rebecca Parmer opened one of those boxes in the reading room and selected a dog-eared letter. It was written in 1853 on light blue paper by Frederic E. Church while the artist was traveling in South America. You may have seen one of his more well-known paintings, “Pichincha,” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “Paper was expensive then, and Church would sometimes write to more than one person in the same letter,” Parmer says, turning the pages gently.

“No white gloves?” I ask, as Parmer gingerly replaces the letter.

“No, it’s easier to handle documents not wearing gloves,” she says, noting a change from earlier protocols.

Altogether, there are 256 signed pieces in the Carson collection. It’s but a small part of Winterthur’s storehouse of about 1.5 million documents and ephemera. It also represents just a portion of Carson’s lifetime hobby. Her contribution to the Library of Congress contains more than 10,000 documents, mostly signed, from once-famous people dating from 1656 to 1995. Unlike many autograph and document collectors who specialize in some category, Carson was unusual in that she wanted one of everything.

Autographs can be collected in any number of ways. In an age of texts and emails, personal letters on paper from today’s famous people will perhaps become even rarer than those written when pen and ink were common. Collecting signed photographs of celebrities seems to be the province of landmark restaurants. Witness all the framed and signed photos of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett in the places where they once dined.

A collection of documents from the personal files of Hollywood icon Marlene Dietrich included letters from Ernest Hemingway, one of which sold for $18,750 in May 2017.

Signed first-edition books with personal messages to the new owners are focal points for many collectors. Even today, fans line up at readings and other bookstore events. Younger collectors can be found at sports arenas and concert venues hoping to score personalized messages, often signed with Sharpies on T-shirts and jerseys, programs and albums. (Autographs on body parts tend to fade away, regrettably.)

Baldwin’s Book Barn in West Chester has a few dozen first-edition books signed by the authors, but it doesn’t normally buy or sell letters, documents or other paper ephemera. When someone comes in with something like that, manager Carol Pfaff Rauch usually puts them in touch with Renningers, an antique market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, whose vendors often deal in books and documents. “We do have this one program from the 1997 NBA championship signed by all the players,” says Rauch. “It’s priced at $495, so perhaps one of your readers will be interested.”

In an age of texts and emails, personal letters on paper from today’s famous people will perhaps become even rarer than those written when pen and ink were common.

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Parmer notes that the market for autographs is still “very wild.” “I get emails daily from dealers, as part of my job is searching for new materials,” she says.

Signature collections are especially valuable. Claiming to be the largest specialist auctioneer of works on paper in the world, Swann Auction Galleries in New York has a specialized autographs department. A collection of documents from the personal files of Hollywood icon Marlene Dietrich included letters from Ernest Hemingway. One sold through Swann for $18,750 in May 2017.

As with anything else that’s collectable, proper storage is crucial to maintaining a collection of paper documents. Parmer advises to “keep it high and dry,” with as little fluctuation in humidity as possible. A paper folder is preferable, as plastic can be damaging. “Keep track of where you got it and what the story behind it is. Keep all your financial records,” she says. “If it’s valuable, put it on homeowners insurance.”

Of course, many of us also keep signed letters, notes and documents that are of no monetary value, often framing them for our offices, bathrooms or entryways. A document my wife framed is now hanging in my office. It’s one I received not long after we were married, a time when we were poor graduate students and I was desperately looking for my first real job. A telegram with a printed signature, it’s one of most important signed messages I’ve ever received. It reads:

“Offer position instructor mass communications for academic year beginning September 1967. Please wire reply G Homer Durham President Arizona State University.”

Perhaps my enthusiastic reply even lies somewhere among President Durham’s papers housed somewhere in an ASU library in Tempe, Arizona.

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