Collection of over 200 letters

jmangin

Cadet
Joined
Mar 21, 2019
I hope it's okay to post to this forum. Anyway, I recently inherited a huge binder containing upwards of 250 civil war letters, from both sides. I've been reading them, it's really fascinating. I do wonder, though, if there is any value to these? All are separately sleeved in plastic and look like they were written last week, it's a truly amazing collection. Any input from anyone?

Cheers,

-Jim, Tarpon Springs, Florida
 
Welcome from the Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing Forum and North Mississippi! Congratulations on your inheritance and hope you will share them with us.
Regards
David
 
Welcome from the UK and from The First Bull Run/ Manassas Forum

As to your question obviously they have a value. At a minimum it would be their value to history and a museum might well be willing to take them in to their collection. Beyond that they might and probably do have at a minimum some small monetary value. However without much more information we aren't going to say much other than perhaps someone will be able to suggest a suitable appraiser.
 
Welcome and Congratulations on inheriting such a treasure :smile:

As you say the letters are from 'both sides', I'm curious to know do they relate to family or are they just a random collection someone has gathered up in some period during/after the war?

Hope you enjoy the site and folks can give you the help you seek!
 
Welcome jmangin.

As others have already mentioned, your collection of letters have value. They have both historical and monetary value.

Various factors come into play when discussing monetary value for not all letters are created equal. Letters with great battle content have the greatest value. Unit, who wrote these letters and if they all came from one family also come into play.
 
Welcome! That's a nice inheritance, particularly if the letters are from your family!
Value to others depends on a number of factors, including who wrote them, what is described in them, are there any famous battles, units or people mentioned and so on. If you check some of the internet auction sites (not eBay) you will often see groupings of Civil War letters for sale, sometimes for very little, sometimes for a substantial amount.
Whatever your plans, I hope you can share some with us: i find the personal anecdotes and everyday conversation far more interesting than the impersonal battle reports and histories.
Be sure to join in our discussions: we always appreciate new perspectives!
 
Ah, you have what a what a good many history researchers and authors would love to acquire by some means. Many a successful book has been published by writers with skill, and research experience for additional information. Filling in the blanks_____.
Lubliner.
 
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