THE LIFELONG NEW YORKER ASSEMBLED AN EXTRAORDINARY ARCHIVE THAT OFFERS AN INTIMATE WINDOW INTO THE PEOPLE WHO SHAPED AMERICA
By Rhonda Reinhart | June 2, 2026
Living with John H. Freund meant living with history. George Washington greeted visitors near the doorway of the converted 18th-century barn that served as the family living room. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt looked down from the walls. In the adjoining den, newspapers announcing Charles Cornwallis’ surrender and South Carolina’s secession hung beside shelves crowded with presidential biographies, military histories, and stacks of auction catalogs. Surrounded by the yellow sheets of paper that were his lifelong passion, Freund was often found here working at his desk in his favorite wingback chair, a New York Yankees game likely flickering on a small TV nearby.
Issued by the ‘Charleston Mercury,’ this December 20, 1860, broadside announces the unanimous passage of South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession, formally dissolving its union with the United States. The broadside is one of the centerpiece offerings in Heritage’s June 19 John H. Freund Americana Collection Signature®Auction.
The New York native, who passed away last September at the age of 93, was never the kind of collector who chased history as a trophy. He pursued it quietly, almost reverently — less interested in prestige than in the human stories hidden behind the famous signatures. Over more than eight decades, he assembled a thoughtful and deeply personal collection of Americana, not merely chronicling the nation’s past, but revealing the people inside it: George Washington as a teenage surveyor, John Adams grieving the death of a child, John F. Kennedy writing to a wartime widow, Dwight Eisenhower exchanging tender notes with Mamie.
“When we were growing up, American history wasn’t something distant; it was all around us,” says Freund’s elder son, Anthony Barzilay Freund. “You’d walk through our home past Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson — their faces, their words, their swirling signatures woven into everyday life. But these were not merely trophies on display; our father loved the search, the research, and the thrill of discovery as much as actually owning the pieces.”
The first printed announcement of Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown, from the October 24, 1781, issue of ‘The Freeman’s Journal’
A lifelong student, Freund never believed he knew the whole story, which led him to seek out new insights into both the major moments of American history and the small, obscure ones. “He wasn’t just collecting famous names. He was collecting moments that revealed character,” Anthony adds. “I think he loved unearthing the personal stories behind these monumental historical figures, showing the human side of great men. In a way, he saw himself as a storyteller. He was creating mini biographies through the people he collected.”
On June 19, when Heritage presents the John H. Freund Americana Collection Signature® Auction, the public will get its first comprehensive glimpse into the extraordinary archive that Freund spent a lifetime building — a collection shaped as much by curiosity, scholarship, and patriotism as by rarity and historical importance.
‘He loved pieces that showed these towering figures in American history at the early stages of their lives,’ Anthony Barzilay Freund says of his father, John H. Freund. One example from Freund’s collection is this rare frontier land survey handwritten and signed by a 19-year-old George Washington on April 18, 1751.
At the heart of Freund’s collection are 23 letters signed by George Washington, offering an intimate window into his emergence from young surveyor to first president of the United States. Among them is a land survey completed when Washington was just 19 years old, alongside Revolutionary War material including a 1776 account of the seizure of Dorchester Heights and the British evacuation of Boston. Another document captures Washington ordering “Mad” Anthony Wayne to strike at Bull’s Ferry, while a deeply personal letter from the final year of his presidency to the son of the Marquis de Lafayette reflects the enduring bonds forged during the Revolution.
Included as well is remarkable material connected to Lafayette himself. In one letter, the future Revolutionary War hero writes at just 20 years old as he departs France and prepares to sail for America to join the fight for independence — a decision that would forever alter both his life and the course of the Revolution. Decades later, another letter finds Lafayette expressing gratitude to Congress for the $200,000 awarded to him in recognition of his service to the young republic he helped secure.
A significant letter from the Marquis de Lafayette, written during his celebrated return visit to the United States, in which he formally thanks Congress for its grant of $200,000 in recognition of his service during the American Revolution
The founding generation continues with nine letters signed by Thomas Jefferson, including a 1781 letter written from Richmond to General George Weedon as Benedict Arnold burned the capital of Virginia. The collection also preserves history as Americans first encountered it. Among the highlights is an incredibly rare issue of The Freeman’s Journal announcing the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, capturing the triumph that effectively secured American independence and altered the course of world history.
As the nation moved toward crisis in the 19th century, mounting tensions that would erupt into civil war are reflected in an extraordinary letter from President James Buchanan written during the Fort Sumter crisis and the secession of South Carolina in the earliest days of the coming conflict. The Civil War era is further represented through Abraham Lincoln’s appointment of David Farragut as rear admiral and the Charleston Mercury proclaiming South Carolina’s secession in December 1860.
Abraham Lincoln’s naval commission for David G. Farragut
The collection extends well into the 20th century, preserving firsthand accounts from presidents confronting global war and modern geopolitical upheaval. Franklin D. Roosevelt writes to General Hap Arnold regarding the top-secret North African assignment of his son Elliott Roosevelt during World War II. Another poignant archive comes from John F. Kennedy, who writes to the widow of one of his fallen PT-109 crewmen, reflecting the bonds forged during one of the defining episodes of Kennedy’s wartime service in the Pacific.
The collection also includes Harry S. Truman reflecting on his controversial dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War, one of the defining civilian-military confrontations of the 20th century and a moment that tested the constitutional boundaries of presidential authority during wartime.
This exceptional archive, dated 1943 to 1961, documents John F. Kennedy’s correspondence with the widow of fellow PT-109 sailor Jack Kirksey Jr.
Together, these documents, letters, manuscripts, and broadsides chart the evolution of the republic through revolution, expansion, civil war, industrialization, global conflict, and political transformation. They also represent one of the most comprehensive and intellectually ambitious collections of American historical material ever brought to market.
“The John H. Freund Americana Collection offers a rare opportunity to encounter American history in its most immediate and human form through the written word,” says Joe Maddalena, Executive Vice President at Heritage Auctions. “He collected not simply for rarity, but for meaning, for the way each letter could illuminate a pivotal moment, a consequential decision, or the inner life of an individual. From the American Revolution to the Cold War and beyond, this collection preserves the voices of the people who built, defended, and transformed the United States. It is, quite simply, one of the most important Americana archives assembled in modern times.”
