[ Autographs ] 1870's MIDWEST CORRESPONDENCE Lot of about 40 A.L.S.'s most four pages and in ink, ca. 1850-1880 from Gerguson and Brown families, largely from Illinois. A good reading correspondence reflecting small town life in the midwest, in part: "...the small pox scare is over your way...the election is drawing near and it will be ahot one so they could defeat Garfield...Folsom's barn was by lightning..and burnt...Good news from Rome, the damned old Pope has gone to Hell...the Temperance women are out in large numbers every day, have accomplished nothing so far...over 1,000 signed the Pledge...the saloon keepers are feeling very blue...I have been thoroughly exposed to small pox...we are safe from the cyclone of yesterday...it swept through Market Street badly...there was a general gloom cast over our city...there was a fire on the west side...the telegraph says today the town of Tiffin in this state was entirely destroyed by fire...". Much more content concerning bank embezzlers, fires, auction sales of farms, and so on. Some soiling, overall good. With a few covers.