Celebrating Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving on the calendar later this week, I'd like to post the following.

Disclaimer: These are NOT my documents. They were offered in a recent ephemera auction where I was bidding on other materials. But they seemed so timely in there appearance that I could not resist the urge to harvest them for a post here.

Thanksgiving Proclamation by President Ulysses S. Grant, Oct 27, 1875.



Thanksgiving Proclamation by President Chester A. Arthur, Oct 26, 1883



Thanksgiving Proclamation by Benjamin Harrison, Nov 11, 1891.



Thanksgiving Proclamation by President William McKinley, OCt. 29, 1897.

Thanks for posting these!!! Very appropriate, and I never knew that something like this existed.

Ray

I did some additional research and found the following broadside, which was sold by RR Auctions on Aug 7, 2019.



The Auction Lot description follows....

Scarce broadside of a proclamation issued by Governor John A. Andrew of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 20 x 28, recognizing President Abraham Lincoln's proclamation for "a Day of Thanksgiving, Praise, and Prayer" to be held on August 6, 1863. Andrews orders that Lincoln's proclamation be published and promulgated to the citizens of Massachusetts, and notes: "I earnestly trust not only that in all our churches and Congregations of religious worship the day may be observed by becoming acts of public thanksgiving, but that every heart may find an altar on which to lay its offering of humble and grateful praise."

"President Lincoln's proclamation, issued less than two weeks after Union victory at Gettysburg, is published below, in part: "It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to supplications and prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to the Army and Navy of the United States on the land and on the sea, victories so signal and so effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confidence, that the Union of these States will be maintained, their constitution preserved, and peace and prosperity permanently established…Now, therefore, be it known, that I do set apart, Thursday, the Sixth Day of August next, to be observed as a day for National Thanksgiving, Praise and Prayer." Professionally backed for reinforcement and in very good condition, with small splits and areas of paper loss at fold intersections. This historic proclamation for a national day of thanksgiving in August preceded Lincoln's call for another in November 1863, which first established 'Thanksgiving' as a national holiday in that month; however, a nationwide date for 'Thanksgiving Day' was not finally realized until Reconstruction, due to the ongoing conflict."

As seen from the final sentence I highlighted in bold, this was apparently the beginning of Thanksgiving as we know it.

For those who want to place a value on history, this document sold for $1561 which includes Buyers premium.

And adding to the original four documents in the original post, here are two more similar proclamations.

Thanksgiving Proclamation by President Chester A. Arthur, Oct 25, 1882.



Thanksgiving Proclamation by President Grover Cleveland, Nov 2, 1885.



These two documents, and the original four were all sold by RR Auctions in previous sales.

Mike

And from the other end of the time spectrum, I discovered the following document for the first Thanksgiving in space.




Thanksgiving Day dinner menu signed by the Apollo 12 crew

Outstanding official Apollo 12 Lunar Receiving Laboratory menu for the crew reception area on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1969, 8.5 x 12.75, signed in black felt tip by Alan Bean, Richard Gordon, and Charles Conrad. Printed on festive orange cardstock, the menu for "Thanksgiving Dinner" lists: mixed fruit compote or mulligatawny soup; crackers; butter; roast turkey with giblet gravy or smoked turkey; dressing or whipped potatoes; corn; green peas with mushrooms; cranberry sauce or cranberry-orange relish; stuffed celery; cloverleaf rolls; and assorted desserts including pumpkin pie, apple pie, and pecan pie. In very fine condition. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Odyssey Group stating that the menu was owned and used by Apollo 12 Commander Charles Conrad.

Again, courtesy of RR Auctions, April 20, 2023

I envy those individuals fortunate enough to add documents like these to their collections, and preserve them for mere mortals like me.

Mike