Eleanor Roosevelt Archive, ca. 1941

Appraised on: August 5, 2006

Appraised in: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Appraised by: Ian Ehling

Category: Books & Manuscripts

Episode Info: Politically Collect (#1219)
Philadelphia, Hour 3 (#1106)

Originally Aired: February 5, 2007

IMAGE: 1 of 3  

Appraisal Video: (2:21)

GUEST: I've brought historic documents that belonged to my cousin. She was Mrs. Roosevelt's personal maid. When she passed, she left all of these documents to me. I visited the White House about three times when President Roosevelt was in office. I sat and looked at the president getting his picture painted, and it was really something to see.

APPRAISER: It is really quite an amazing archive. A rough estimate is that it comprises about 100 pieces. Let me start with the one right to your side, which is the obituary. That is pretty much the background information that keeps the archive together.

GUEST: Exactly.

APPRAISER: You have various other pieces, like a lot of greeting cards, Mrs. Roosevelt's calling cards...

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: As well as a large group of letters.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: The correspondence, naturally, started after your cousin left the White House.

GUEST: Exactly.

APPRAISER: If you look at the archive, the individual items, with the exception pretty much of one, are not worth that much.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: What is of really interesting value is the photograph in the center that shows Franklin D. Roosevelt with Eleanor, Christmas 1941.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And that's a very striking image. She is knitting, he is reading, and they're just presenting a home life to America.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: And the wonderful thing is that the photograph is signed by both.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: That makes it very interesting. So this photo by itself at auction would probably sell for about $3,000 to $4,000.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: The individual items, like, say, the letters, you have a total of 30, that probably would fetch around $800.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: The smaller pieces are really not that significant.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: But a conservative auction estimate for the entire archive would be around $8,000 to $12,000.

GUEST: Oh, my. Wonderful. I am thrilled.