Three Hand Written Notes from William Jennings Bryan to Fred Loring Seely for Sale

Three Hand Written Notes from William Jennings Bryan to Fred Loring Seely For Sale

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Three Hand Written Notes from William Jennings Bryan to Fred Loring Seely:
$819.99

This is a full page removed from a vintage scrapbook purchased at a Pack Memorial Public Library antiquarian book sale in Asheville, North Carolina. There are three handwritten notes signed by William Jennings Bryan to Fred Loring Seely pasted down on the page, which measures approximately 8.5" wide x 11" high.

Note 1 reads, "To Mr. & Mrs. F.L. Seely with compliments & good wishes of Mr. & Mrs. W.J. Bryan April 11–1917"

Note 2 reads, "To Mr. F.L. Seely with Christmas greeting of Mr. & Mrs. W.J. Bryan Dec 24–1914"

Note 3 reads, "To Mr. F.L. Seely with compliments of Mr. W.J. Bryan Dec 25–1913"

William Jennings Bryan (1860 - 1925) was an American lawyer and politician who was well known for his powerful oratory skills. He was an influential voice in the Democratic Party, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1891 - 1895, receiving the Democratic nomination for president three times (1896, 1900, and 1908), and serving as Secretary of State (1913 - 1915) under President Woodrow Wilson. In addition, Bryan was an editorial writer and lecturer both before and after his brief stint as Secretary of State. Bryan is also well known for his role as prosecuting attorney in the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial (1925).

Fred Loring Seely (1871 - 1942) was a newspaperman, chemist, inventor and philanthropist. Born to Uriah and Nancy Hopping Seely, in Monmouth, New Jersey, Fred Seely first worked for the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company and later became an executive for his father-in-law Edwin Wiley Grove's "Paris Medicine Company," a patent medicine business based in Tennessee. In 1906, with Mr. Grove's financial backing, Seely founded the Atlanta Georgian daily newspaper. He also took on many socially active causes, one of which was the exposure of chain-gang labor practices in Georgia. State prisoners were being rented out for fifty cents a week, and many of these inmates received poor treatment at the hands of their temporary employers. Seely used his newspaper as a pulpit to broadcast the abuses of the chain-gang labor system. He was instrumental in helping to terminate this form of modern slave labor in Georgia. Many of his advertisers, however, had profited by using the prison laborers, and these well-to-do clients of The Atlanta Georgian were furious with Seely for his activism in this cause. They subsequently dropped their support for his newspaper, and this precipitated the sale of the paper to Randolph Hearst in 1912. After this, Seely went to North Carolina where in 1913 he built the Grove Park Inn with his father-in-law Edwin Wiley Grove. In 1917, he purchased Biltmore Estate Industries from Edith Vanderbilt and changed the name to Biltmore Industries. This small factory was primarily a home-spun wool weaving and woodworking business. Seely employed many deaf persons to work in his factory; two of his own siblings, in fact, were deaf. He also acted as the architect and builder of his home "Overlook" (sometimes called "Seely's Castle") on Sunset Mountain overlooking Asheville. After Seely's death in 1942 in Asheville, North Carolina, his widow Evelyn Grove Seely sold the home to what would become Asheville-Biltmore College, the forerunner of what is now the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Does not include a certificate of authenticity (COA).