Kaller's 2nd exhibition at Scarsdale Historical Society, " Lincoln, Slavery and the Civil War”, opens Feb. 1

Seth Kaller’s second exhibiton at the Scarsdale Historical Society museum, “Turning Points: Lincoln, Slavery and the Civil War”, will be tailored to coincide with Black History Month and Lincoln’s birthday. It will open on Thursday, Feb. 1, 7-9 p.m. and will run through June 15.

Featured will be a facsimile of the Emancipation Proclamation (the original is on loan to Penn State U.), signed by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, and a December, 1862 letter signed by Lincoln, about three regiments captured during the Civil War: “They did not misbehave, and I am satisfied; so that they should not have anything withheld from them by way of punishment…” .

Other fascinating documents on display will be an 1830 bill of sale for a 15-year-old slave girl; contemporary printed accounts of the 1840 trials following the Amistad uprising; an 1858 autographed letter by John Brown, written two days after revealing his plan to raid the Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, and an autographed letter from Lincoln's Secretary of War Horatio Seymour, warning the governor of New York of looming conscription -- two months before the draft riots of July, 1863: “The organization under the Enrollment Act being nearly completed a draft bill will speedily be ordered in conformity with its provisions.”

Kaller has partnered with the Society since last fall. His firm, Seth Kaller, Inc., of White Plains, is a leading historical document dealer. Kaller is mounting several exhibitions featuring original documents at the Society museum, and is also providing documents for use in the Society's education programs. His first exhibition, “Documents That Shaped America”, opened in September; it includes the first exact facsimile of the Declaration of Independence, John Adam's Legal Notebook Leaves, letters written and signed by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, a full early printing of the U.S. Constitution, and first and second drafts of the Bill of Rights. Many of these objects will remain on display during the new exhibition.

Most of the documents are for sale, though some will be borrowed from clients specifically for the exhibitions. The exhibitions are protected by Knight Security of Scarsdale.