24 Fascinating Documents Collected From History

United States Department of the Interior advertisement offering ‘Indian Land for Sale’, 1911

 

 

German election ballot, 1938: “Do you approve of the reunification of Austria with the German reich accomplished on 13 March 1938 and do you vote for the list of our Führer, Adolf Hitler?”

 

 

Schindler’s List. April 18, 1945

 

 

The actual check, for $7.2 million, issued by the United States to Russia for the purchase of the territory of Alaska, August 1868.

 

 

Boarding pass for Titanic, 10 April 1912

 

 

Civil War Draft Letter, Providence, RI, 1863

 

The “From Hell’ letter written by a person who claimed to be the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. Sent with a parcel containing half a human kidney to George Lusk, chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. Hoax letters were sent by journalists or people trying to incite fear. This letter is regarded by many scholars to be genuine. October 16, 1888.

Transcription:

From hell
Mr Lusk
Sor
I send you half the
Kidne I took from one women
prasarved it for you tother pirce
I fried and ate it was very nise I
may send you the bloody knif that
took it out if you only wate a whil
longer.
signed
Catch me when
you Can
Mishter Lusk.

 

Letter sent to the Metropolitan Police claiming to be from Jack the Ripper, 1890

 

 

‘The Negro Motorist Green Book’. A guide book that listed all the places that welcomed black travelers in segregated America. Published from 1936 through to 1964

‘The Green Book, which was published from 1936 until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, listed establishments across the U.S. (and eventually North America) that welcomed blacks during a time when segregation and Jim Crow laws often made travel difficult — and sometimes dangerous.

“Carry The Green Book with you. You may need it,” advises the cover of the 1949 edition. And under that, a quote from Mark Twain, which is heartbreaking in this context: “Travel is fatal to prejudice.”’

 

 

RMS Titanic Lunch Menu

 

 

Dinner menu from the R.M.S. Titanic from 14 April 1912, the night before it famously struck the fatal iceberg

 

 

Hitler’s 1920 doodles when coming up for the NAZI party symbol

 

Adolf Hitler’s obituary in The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, May 4, 1945

 

Page from a CIA Counter-intelligence Interrogation manual, July 1963

 

 

Anne Frank’s Diary

 

 

Marie Curie’s notebook. Because of their levels of radioactive contamination, her papers from the 1890s are considered too dangerous to handle. Those who wish to consult them must wear protective clothing.

 

 

Al Capone’s fingerprint card, before 1947

 

A One Hundred Dollar Confederate States of America banknote, Issued during the American Civil War, December 22, 1862

 

 

A letter sent anonymously by the FBI to Martin Luther King Jr., 1964

 

 

Copy of original bill of sale for slaves, in Charleston, South Carolina 1833

 

 

A page of William Shakespeare’s handwriting

 

 

The first official picture of the original ransom note that was left on the crib of Charles Lindbergh’s baby on the night the boy was kidnapped was made public by New Jersey State Police, 1934

Dear Sir!

Have 50.000$ redy 25 000$ in 20$ bills 15000$ in 10$ bills and 10000$ in 5$ bills After 2–4 days we will inform you were to deliver the money.

We warn you for making anyding public or for notify the Police The child is in gut care. Indication for all letters are Singnature [Symbol to right] and 3 hohls.

 

 

Encrypted World War II message found in a fire place strapped to the remains of a dead carrier pigeon. Sent in 1944, discovered in 2012 (article)

 

 

Receipt for Aphex Twin’s first synthesizer (Yamaha DX100)

 

 

Charles Darwin’s 1837 first sketch of an evolutionary tree, prefaced by the words “i think”