[POLITICS IN AMERICA - KNOW NOTHING PARTY]. A ballot, fabric, and sheet music supporting the Know Nothing movement, also known as the "American Party."

Fillmore / Donelson printed fabric. Approx. 11 3/4 x 11 in. printed fabric (unevenly cut). Printed in light brown, oxblood, and rust, with a repeating striped pattern of wreathes and the Know Nothing Party presidential candidates, former President Millard Fillmore, and his running mate Andrew Jackson Donelson of Kentucky. RARE, no other examples known. Not in Threads of History. 

[With:] PIERPONT, Jason, composer. The Know Nothing Polka. Boston: E.H. Wade, 1854. RARE, OCLC locates no copies, appears distinct from other publications of the same title. -- The Know-Nothings Union Song: Few Days, or Our Country Now is Great & Free. Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1854. (Overall mineral deposits.) Disbound (hinge reinforced with paper). RARE: OCLC locates only 3 copies. -- Together, 2 pieces of sheet music. 

[Also with:] American Ticket...For Governor, Ralph Metcalf, of Newport. New Hampshire: Abbott, Jenks & Co., 1855. Approx. 5 1/8 x 10 in. printed ballot (old creases, light pencil marks, contemporary ink). A ballot for the American (Know Nothing) Party of New Hampshire in the 1855 election, primarily for the gubernatorial candidate Ralph Metcalf. He won the race on an anti-slavery platform and in opposition to Pierce's Kansas-Nebraska Act. 


Collection of Tom Charles Huston