Documents

British Papers from 1771-1781

Newspapers from England during the time of the Revolutionary War are always interesting, as they give a sense as to life at that time and what political discussions were the "hot topic" of the day! Each paper is 8 1/2 x 11 inches and is printed on cotton fiber paper.

$500 Santa Anna Bond

Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794-1876) was a dominant figure in Mexican politics for much of the 19th Century. Born in the state of Vera Cruz, he began his long career in the army as a cadet at the age of 16. Santa Anna initially fought for Spain against Mexican independence but later switched sides to support independence. In 1833 he was elected president of Mexico and served seven non-consecutive terms for the next 22 years.

Santa Anna's rejection of Mexico's constitution and substitution of a less democratic form of government was instrumental in the war for Texas independence. In 1835, he personally led the Mexican counterattack at the Alamo and ordered the execution of those captured at Goliad. His over-confidence and tactical carelessness, however, led to the defeat of his army at San Jacinto in 1836.

The $500 bond above was issued in 1866 from New York City while Santa Anna was living in exile. He issued these bonds in hopes of deposing Emperor Maximilian and regaining power. He was captured and sentenced to death but was released and allowed to retire to New York. He died in 1876, blind and virtually penniless.

Liber Sententiarum Leaf

Original leaf from Peter Lombard's Liber Sententiarum, handwritten on both sides and illustrated on vellum in the style of the northern Italian school in the last half of the 13th Century, ca. 1250-1300 A.D.

The title, likely written in a monastery at or near Florence, is a secular work, uncommon in an era when the written word was almost exclusively reserved for religious works. It is written on a very fine grade of vellum, likely unborn lambskin. It is estimated that the production of a work of this size, slightly less than the Bible, would have taken three year's of a scribe's labor, and the skins of two hundred lambs.

Peter Lombard, (born c. 1100 - died c. 1160-1164) was born in Novara, Italy and studied at Bologna, later at Reims and Paris. Around 1148, he wrote Liber Sententiarum, commonly known as the Book of Sentences. He became professor at a school of Notre-Dame and briefly held the position of Archbishop of Paris. His Book of Sentences made his famous and gave him a special place in medieval theology. Divided into four books organized as a long series of questions, the work covers the whole body of theological doctrine and unites it in a systematic whole. The Book of Sentences became the most influential schoolbook of the Middle Ages and was required reading at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Paris.