1867 Alaska "Seward's Folly," Three Black Soldiers, Otsego Sugar Rush — May 4
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🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · May 4, 1867
Complete Issue · New York
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A historically exceptional issue published just weeks after the Alaska Purchase treaty was signed — three illustrations documenting America's vast new Russian territory alongside three powerful prints tracing the arc of Black military service from contraband to veteran. A primary document of two of the most consequential events of 1867: the acquisition of Alaska and the Reconstruction-era recognition of Black soldiers' service.
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🏔️ ALASKA — "SEWARD'S FOLLY"
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🏔️ FULL PAGE — "OUR RUSSIAN POSSESSION" — THREE ILLUSTRATIONS INCLUDING MT. ST. ELIAS AND NEW ARCHANGEL
A full-page documentary of America's extraordinary new territory — published just weeks after Secretary of State William Seward signed the Alaska Purchase treaty with Russia on March 30, 1867, acquiring 586,412 square miles of territory for $7.2 million — roughly two cents per acre. Critics immediately dubbed it "Seward's Folly" and "Walrussia," convinced that ice and wilderness were all America had bought. The three illustrations — including a view of Mt. St. Elias (at 18,008 feet, the second-highest peak in North America) and New Archangel (modern Sitka), the principal town and capital of Russian America — are among the earliest American press illustrations of the territory that would become the 49th state in 1959. Published at the moment of maximum public skepticism and ridicule, this full page is a primary document of Alaska's acquisition and American territorial expansion. A significant piece of Alaska history, American expansionism, and one of the great bargains in the history of real estate.
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✊ THREE PORTRAITS OF BLACK MILITARY SERVICE
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🎖️ THREE PRINTS — "THE CONTRABAND," "THE RECRUIT," AND "THE VETERAN"
Three portraits tracing the full arc of Black military experience in the Civil War era — from fugitive slave to soldier to seasoned veteran — published during the heart of Congressional Reconstruction as the nation debated the rights of the men who had fought for it. The three figures represent a deliberate narrative sequence: the Contraband, the formerly enslaved person who sought refuge behind Union lines and whose labor supported the Army in the early war years; the Recruit, the Black man who answered the call to arms in the United States Colored Troops; and the Veteran, the battle-hardened soldier who had proven Black Americans' capacity for citizenship through sacrifice. Together the three portraits make an extraordinarily significant piece of Black American military history, Reconstruction-era civil rights documentation, and visual arguments for Black suffrage — published in the same months that Congress was forcing through the Military Reconstruction Acts. A significant and highly collectible set of Black Americana and Civil War history.
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🍁 INSIDE THE ISSUE
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🍁 HALF PAGE — "SCENE IN A SUGAR RUSH, OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK"
A half-page illustration of maple sugar production in Otsego County, New York — a vivid piece of New York State agricultural and seasonal history, capturing the maple sugaring tradition that was a fixture of rural upstate New York life. Otsego County, home of Cooperstown and James Fenimore Cooper's fictional Natty Bumppo, was one of the great maple sugar regions of the state.
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📋 CONDITION
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I photograph every page of every issue so you can inspect the condition closely before purchasing. Please review all images carefully and don't hesitate to ask any questions — I'm happy to provide additional detail or close-up shots of any page, illustration, or area of concern before you buy.
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📌 DETAILS
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Publication ········ Harper's Weekly
Date ··············· May 4, 1867
City ··············· New York
Format ············· Illustrated newspaper, complete in 16 pages
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📦 SHIPPING & PRESERVATION
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• Stored in an acid-free protective bag and flat-shipped in a padded envelope with heavy cardboard reinforcement
• Fully tracked for your peace of mind
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🔍 SEO TAGS
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1867 Alaska "Seward's Folly," Three Black Soldiers, Otsego Sugar Rush — May 4
$37.65