?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(HISTORY.) Letters from important John Brown scholar Boyd Stutler to a fellow Brown enthusiast. 124 Letters Signed, most of them typed and signed as "Boyd," most one page and 11 x 8¼ inches; minor wear. Charleston, WV, 1960-1969
Boyd Blynn Stutler (1889-1970) was a white West Virginia newspaper editor and historian whose lifelong passion was the study of abolitionist John Brown. He became a leading collector of Brown material, and spent his final decades attempting to publish a biography of Brown. His careful attention to detail regarding Brown's early life conflicted with the general-interest biography desired by his publishers Bobbs-Merrill, and the manuscript was never completed. In 2023, historian Louis DeCaro wrote the definitive biography of Stutler, titled "John Brown's Expert," which included the surviving completed portions of Stutler's biography of Brown.
Offered here is a thick file of Stutler's letters to a fellow John Brown enthusiast, machinist William Edward Gottschalk (1925-1985) of Roseville, Michigan, whose main interests were books and philatelic material relating to Brown. Some are on Stutler's personal letterhead, others on the letterhead of the John Brown Monument & Historical Association (whose work is discussed in the 28 March 1965 letter), Lincoln Society of Philately, or the West Virginia Encyclopedia. Stamps, postal covers, and other philatelic matters are the main topic, but the letters are also full of Stutler's thoughts on the work of other Brown scholars, and various efforts to commemorate Brown's life. On 31 October 1967 he wrote "A man came from Nebraska City, Nebraska to dig into my John Brown stuff for . . . a regional study and I have promised to edit the work. Have already furnished a lot of material, including locations of JB's stops at some abandoned towns when crossing Iowa. . . . Piecing out the routes from the meager data at hand is a puzzling pastime."
Stutler, despite his interest in John Brown, was a conservative in politics. He touches on current events in his 8 April 1968 letter: "I'm sick of all this fuss about King, whom I consider a rabble rouser and a danger to public peace wherever he appeared." One might say the same of John Brown.
With--Gottschalk's extensive files relating to John Brown, circa 1960-1975 (0.7 linear feet): correspondence with other collectors, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and ephemera. Includes dozens of photographs Gottschalk took at John Brown historic sites, one of Stutler at the Brown birthplace, 4 Stutler pamphlets, a small stack of Stutler bookplates, and a file of Stutler obituaries and tributes, 1970-1971. Also included is a copy of DeCaro's book on Stutler, "John Brown's Expert."
