The United States Sanitary Commission Theatre Program and Autograph Book

The collection contains items involving the company of Philp & Solomons booksellers, pertaining to the fund-raising work of the United States Sanitary Commission.

The theatre program, printed by Philp & Solomons (Washington, DC) on silk, announces a performance on Oct, 17, 1863 at Grover's Theater of Macbeth, with the part of Lady Macbeth to be played by Charlotte Cushman. The autograph album is bound in red morocco and has a label from the Metropolitan Book Store of Philp & Solomons (Washington, DC). The book contains 270 autographs of members of the Executive and Legislative branches of the United States government, 1864, including President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, Lincoln's two private secretaries, and members of the Cabinet and the United States Congress.

Also among the signatures are those of future President James Garfield, future Vice President Thomas Hendricks, Lincoln's former law partner John T. Stuart, Thaddeus Stevens, James Blaine, John Sherman, Ignatius Donnelly and Benjamin Gratz Brown. The volume was presented for auction on behalf of the United States Sanitary Commission on January 6, 1864, by the firm of Philp & Solomons. The collection also contains library catalog cards with information on the USSC.