Collecting the Voices of History By Harriet Sigerman
- Harriet Sigerman
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
The calling of a historical documents dealer
Peruse the current catalog of Stuart Lutz Historic Documents in South Orange and you’ll enter a treasure trove of historical documents from across time and place.
Stuart Lutz has been dealing with historic documents for 35 years. He has bought and sold U.S. presidents’ letters and documents, literary manuscripts, signed photographs by performers and first ladies, and partial and complete archives. When asked what appeals to him about a document, he says, “If it’s something I’ve never seen before, I’m more likely to buy it. If it sings to me, I’ll buy it.”
His varied catalog includes a loving letter by First Lady Abigail Adams to her daughter-in-law; a family scrapbook showcasing the early political career of Arthur W. Mitchell, the first African American elected to Congress; a letter written by a Japanese resident shortly after V-J Day describing the horrendous living conditions in Japan; a letter by woman’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton commenting on the early abolitionist struggles; a signed photograph by the crew of the Bremen after their historic transatlantic flight from Ireland to Canada; a photograph album of an early Gay Pride parade in New York City; and scores of other documents providing an intimate glimpse into our country’s past and that of other nations.
What may be one person’s trash becomes for him a treasured window into the past. He once bought the personal papers of an anthropologist who worked in Vietnam and kept a detailed diary during the 1968 Tet Offensive, a coordinated surprise attack by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army against the South Vietnamese army, the U.S. military, and its allies. It was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War and a major turning point in the conflict. Lutz bought the collection because he was certain the man’s children would throw out what, according to Lutz, “they thought were worthless papers.”
But Lutz finds such “worthless” papers to be fascinating and historically significant. A separate diary, kept by a GI in the Vietnamese jungle, provided a gripping first-hand account of the beginning of the offensive, from hand-to-hand combat to tanks and mortar attacks, bringing to life the harrowing reality of war. Similarly, a Vietnam soldier’s son once offered Lutz seven bins of his father’s possessions. “They either go into the trash or you can have them.” Lutz eagerly rescued them.
After graduating from Johns Hopkins, Lutz worked for Kaller Historical Documents in Asbury Park. He got the job by “pure luck,” he claims, and “never knew that the field of documents existed.” There he developed his interest in collecting historical documents. He had planned to go to law school or pursue a doctorate in American history. But the collecting bug bit him while working at Kaller, especially when he opened a package one day and found two items: a small
clay inkwell that Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee had used at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia during Lee’s surrender of the Confederate army, and the only known letter by Lincoln musing about a second presidential term. From then on Lutz was hooked and never stepped into a law or graduate-school classroom.
“Working with documents,” he says, “is far more interesting than reading about history in graduate
school.” He is drawn to experiencing history firsthand. He recently visited some Civil War battlefields with his wife and son. He said that re-creating in his mind the drama of battle
and the weight of the moment makes a far greater impact than “just reading about it.
Similarly, for Lutz, working with documents is an intimate way to connect to the past. “To me,” he says, “there are two great things about letters and signatures. First, I know that Abraham Lincoln or Susan B. Anthony once held the same paper that I am now holding. Second, if it took George Washington 60 minutes to handwrite a letter, then I own one hour of a great person’s life.”
In 2000, Lutz established his own company after going to an antique show in New England. There, while sifting through a box of documents, he found an invitation addressed to the “Honorable John Tyler,” then the tenth U.S. president, to cruise the Potomac River on the USS Princeton, a navy warship. Lutz had recently toured Tyler’s home and knew that Tyler had accepted the invitation and was on the warship when one of its cannons exploded, killing four passengers and injuring 20 others. (Tyler was not hurt.)
Lutz bought the document for $35 and sold it to Tyler’s descendants for $2,000. With the profit he started his business. He goes to antique shows and stores and attends antiquarian paper shows, book fairs and estate auctions. He also searches eBay and travels to view private collections for possible purchase. Potential sellers seek him out on his website, HistoryDocs.com, or call him. He has dealt with every Ivy League university, the U.S. Naval Academy, and auction houses such as Christie’s.
Collectors who have specific interests turn to him for additions to their collections. He recently sold a document to one collector who is interested in handwritten eyewitness accounts of historical accidents. He says, “When [collectors] are more specific and I know what they want, it’s easier to deal with.” The thrill of the hunt continually appeals to him. Another time, he found the archive of the first African American engineering professor at West Point and sold it to a customer who collects Black military history.
Lutz’ wife and teenage son share his fascination with history and historical documents. He refers to them as “fellow history nerds” who enjoy historical travel. Every year he takes his son and a friend to an “amazing” World War II weekend in Reading, PA. There they tour aircraft and other military vehicles from the war era and watch reenactments. In fact, Stuart’s son recently led his trivia team to a fourth-place victory in the National History Bowl. Like father, like son.
Besides buying and selling historical documents, Lutz also appraises documents for estate, tax, donation, insurance and divorce-settlement purposes. He is a certified member of the Appraisers Association of America with a Certification in Historical Documents and spends much of his time evaluating owners’ documents for appraisals.
He has also appeared on the “Pawn Stars” television series on the History Channel. In one episode, he was called in to authenticate a book allegedly owned by Thomas Jefferson, which was for sale for $75,000. Lutz confirmed that it was indeed Jefferson’s book because Jefferson had hand-written a secret code, a small T next to the I on the bottom of one of the introductory pages to establish his ownership of the volume. He had also written another person’s name on the title page, which Lutz confirmed was his handwriting. After negotiations between buyer and seller on the show, the book sold for $50,000.
Lutz has an expert eye for identifying authentic and fake documents, either by analyzing the paper used to determine whether a “document” is from the correct time period or by examining the handwriting. An antique edition of Homer’s “Iliad” allegedly included George Washington’s signature on the inside front cover. Lutz knew the signature wasn’t authentic. Washington always signed his name briskly and forcefully, but this signature was clearly made too slowly and deliberately – as if someone was attempting to forge the Founding Father’s name – and the long tail of the last n in Washington suggested a hand that shook in a way the first president’s never would. “Usually you can tell pretty quickly if a document is fake or not,” Lutz says. “Hesitant signatures or shaky signatures or really small signatures ... are usually a tip-off that things are not genuine.”
How does one go about becoming an expert in historical documents? Lutz says. “You can’t get a PhD in it. It’s just experience and learning.” He notes that having a strong knowledge of history helps.
For almost 25 years, Lutz has also been collecting documents pertaining to the Vietnam War. He says he has amassed one of the largest collections of Vietnam War material in the world. The documents begin with a 1954 memo to President Dwight Eisenhower by his attorney general, Herbert Brownell, regarding sending a military advisor to South Vietnam to assess the state of affairs. On the bottom of the memo Eisenhower scrawled instructions on how to execute this idea. When it went up for auction a decade ago, Lutz was the only bidder, and now he calls it “one of the ten most important pieces I have.”
He has thousands of documents and artifacts in his Vietnam collection. They include original photographs, soldiers’ letters and diaries – some written under fire in the jungles – military medals, pro- and anti-war posters, bumper stickers, pins, books, leaflets, maps, even a license plate that reads Back Our Boys In Viet Nam, and letters and documents from government officials. He created a website for his collection: VietnamWarArchive.com.
Lutz regards the Vietnam War as a turning point. “I would argue that from 1950 to 2000 the most important event in American history was the Vietnam War. It’s never been settled. It still churns. Anytime we have foreign interventions, whether it’s Afghanistan or Iraq, the ghosts of Vietnam come back. It’s a national wound that’s never been healed, especially between the baby boomers, and it never will.”
For Lutz collecting memorabilia about this giant national wound has become a lifetime undertaking. Veterans or their families give him material. He has a “little subproject” of taking photos with Vietnam vets he knows.
Lutz is also an author. In 2010, he published “The Last Leaf: Voices of History’s Last-Known Survivors,” an oral history of people who witnessed or participated in famous historical events. Like the many thousands of documents Lutz has collected, the book helps to preserve the voices and events of the past, but in a very personal way. Lutz interviewed and recorded the recollections of 39 people, including:
The final three surviving Civil War widows
The final pitcher to surrender a home run to Babe Ruth in his historic 1927 season
The last suffragist from the women’s suffrage movement of the 1910s
The last living person to fly with Amelia Earhart
The last surviving employees of Thomas Edison and Harry Houdini
The final living American World War I soldier
A Holocaust survivor who was interned in a camp where the other prisoners attacked the Nazis
A “wish discovery” he would still like to make is a piece for his Vietnam collection. “In 1919, a young Vietnamese man named Nyugen Ai Quac went to the Treaty of Versailles and passed out this leaflet in French asking the Americans to encourage the French to get out of Vietnam, which was then known as French Indochina. Nyugen Ai Quac is better known as Ho Chi Minh [the leader of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War]. I have no idea if there are any [copies] that exist still. That one [was owned by] the State Department. That would be the dream Vietnam piece to find. That’s the origin of the Vietnam War.”
Lutz maintains that he’ll never retire from the profession of dealing in historical documents. “It’s eternally interesting. I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and still I get up and look forward to going to work every day.”
Harriet Sigerman is also a history nerd who loves touring historical homes and sites.
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