Manuscript Mondays: New York Stories

Sponsored by The Manuscript Society

Manuscript Mondays

New York Stories in Manuscript:

Anthony Janszoon van Salee and Samuel Jones

Monday, July 7, 2025, 8:00 PM Eastern

Free Live Webinar

Presenter: Peter Klarnet

Host: Gerald “Jay” Gaidmore

From its founding in 1625, New York City has always been a place of diverse peoples and opinions. Peter will explore stories of two individuals who exemplify the city’s diversity as revealed through two manuscripts: Anthony Janszoon van Salee (1607-1676), believed to be the first Muslim to settle in what is now the United States, and Samuel Jones (1734-1819) a former Loyalist who was a key figure in New York State’s ratification of the Constitution.

Registration:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2CWgy6DjS-acPFzpRbJUKA

(You will receive an email confirmation of registration.)

Presenter Peter Klarnet is the current Vice President of The Manuscript Society. He has been a trustee since 2018.

Peter joined Christies in 2016 after 20 years of working with manuscript Americana, spending the first portion of his career cataloging for, and later managing, a Connecticut auction house specializing in historical autographs. In 2005 he left that firm to pursue opportunities as a consultant, agent and dealer. Although his primary interests center on early America, especially the American Revolution and Early Republic, Peter has appraised, cataloged and sold a wide range of material from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Since joining Christie’s, Peter has worked with many important collections including the papers of the Marquis de Chastellux, The Private Collection of President and Mrs. Reagan, The Findlay-Wright Papers, the Roger Judd Collection of American Historical Autographs, the Louisiana Purchase Collection of A. J. Tullock, The Collection of Lee Bouvier Radziwill, The Private Collection of William S. Reese, The Birth of Wikipedia, The Papers of Richard N. Goodwin, and most recently, DJ Kool Herc and the Birth of Hip Hop and The Collection of André Leon Talley. Some of Peter’s more prominent auction records include the sale of the Albert Einstein God Letter, bringing $2.89 million—a world record for an Einstein letter at auction; the unique Ionic Original disc of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” (£1.48m); and most recently the Arizona Spike: one of four presentation spikes presented at the ceremony marking the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 ($2.22m).

Peter holds a B.A. in History from Antioch College, and a M.A. in History from the University of Delaware with a certificate in museum studies. He has curated several exhibits including a major exhibition at Federal Hall in New York celebrating the bicentennial.