History By Mail

Women Against Women's Right to Vote (1918)

In the decades leading up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920,  as the women's suffrage movement was growing, an anti-suffragist movement also emerged. Dozens of State and national anti-suffrage...

Nixon Declines to Obey Subpoena (1973)

In the letter below from President Nixon to Judge Sirica, Nixon states he refusal to obey the subpoena and turn over his tapes. Nixon cites the long historical precedent of...

Iowa Statehood Request (1844)

On the 4th of July in 1838, the U.S. Congress established the Territory of Iowa, which had a population about roughly 23,000 at the time. A movement quickly emerged within...

U.S.-Australian Relations in WWII (1941)

The history of U.S.-Australian relations largely dates back to the Battle of Hamel on the 4th of July, 1918. The Battle of Hamel was a successful join attack in WWI...

Confederate War Ship Photo (1865)

From the early days of photography, pictures we used for intelligence gathering. During the Civil War, the Confederacy purchased many foreign ships, largely from Great Britain. While some were used...

Michael Jackson's Patent for Anti-Gravity Shoes...

On October 26, 1993, the "King of Pop," Michael Jackson, filed United States Patent #5,255,452: Method and Means for Creating Anti-Gravity Illusion. The patent is for the shoes used to...