“Seth Bullock
Deadwood, S.D.
August 25, 1920 [Almost a year after Bullock’s death]
Dear Sir:
After careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that it is my duty as a believer in the progressive principles it was my privilege to fight for under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, as well as my duty as a citizen, to support the democratic national ticket in this campaign. I have prepared a statement giving some of my reasons for reaching this decision, a copy of which statement I enclose. If you are sufficiently interested to read this and write me, how you, personally, react in the present situation I will be obliged to you.
Harold Ickes“
Ah, the archives are great fun.
That’s @#$%ing cool. I actually have some unfinished business in the Manuscript Reading Room that might be of interest: if you have an excuse to look through the papers of Louis F. Post (Asst. Secretary of Labor in 1920, repudiator of AG Palmer), there’s a South African treasure map in Container 7 that definitely requires further investigation…
Oooh, treasure map. And that actually sounds more than a little related to my dissertation topic. Unfortunately, I’m already feeling gun-shy about the amount of containers I need to look at on this trip (and subsequent trips…there’s no real way I can get everything done on this jaunt, unfortunately.)
Still, it is a treasure map…