There is a room on the second floor of the library that contains a life of its own. History lives within those walls — history of Long Island. Among all the pieces of material that made Long Island what it is today lays a letter from President George Washington to his Chief of Intelligence Benjamin Tallmadge right here in Stony Brook University in a vault in a sanctuary room called Special Collections.
The well-preserved letter with slightly tattered edges is one of three letters Washington sent to Tallmadge. Stony Brook University has physical possession of the first and is awaiting the second after successfully bidding for it at Christie’s Auction in Manhattan on February 12.
Those present at the auction were Kristen Nyitray, Head of Special Collections who bided on the secret letter to the Chief of Intelligence, Chris Filstrup, Dean and Director of Libraries and Richie Feinberg, who is in charge of arranging the preservation for such items. Along with them joined Assemblyman D. for E. Setauket Steven Englebright, Barbara Russell, Historian of Brookhaven, and Elizabeth Kaplan, Director of Education for the Three Village Historical Society.
The rag paper document had an open bid of 25,000 dollars which quickly soared until Nyitray won the bid at 48,000 dollars that, with a 20 percent bidder’s fee, totalled to 60,000 dollars, less than the first letter that was bought at 96,000 dollars back in 2006. Both letters were funded by outside contributors. Among those are Assemblyman Englebright and Stony Brook University faculty member Henry Laufer.
George Washington was profoundly involved in a spy ring during the American Revolution called Culper Ring. The letters dictated by Washington and physically written by his sectary James McHenry depicted grave details on how to operate information among the spies. Provided to the spies were invisible ink for letters, code names and a system for transporting details. There is even a legend that a woman who went by the name of Nancy (Anna) Smithstrong was a member of the ring and would place petticoats out as a signal to the other spies.
The first letter was the origin to a creation called the Traveling Spy Trunk Museum, where actual materials would be sent to schools to educate students about the history of Long Island. Kaplan, who created a suggested teacher’s guide for the items, believes the new letter will be added to the Museum
“I suspect we will incorporate it to the Traveling Spy Museum.” Her thoughts, on being a part of the bidding she described as thrilling. “We were determined to get the letter, though within price range.”
Nyitray said there are inquiries about visiting the letter though it is not in the University’s possession yet. She expects the letter to be viewable within a few months because it will be sent to Pennsylvania to be preserved and placed in and ultra violet protective case, in which the letter will not decompose. Its need to be preserved is due to creases from folding and iron in the ink which would eventually ruin the rag paper over time. Nyitray, who was the sole bidder for the University, said, “I think it’s fantastic. It is a privilege to have this collection.” She, and all members of the committee for special collections, wanted to obtain the letters for the purpose of turning them into public documents. It was as Nyitray described the “motivation to provide access to this document.”
Special collections had been notified by the Newsday’s writer Bill Blyer when the second letter went up for sale at Christie’s Auction, according to Filstrup, who shares a personal interest in history along with Blyer. On being the ones who actually won the item, Filstrup simply wants to “place it in the hands of students so they can enjoy and learn about the history of Long Island.” The secret letter came from a private seller.
To view the first Washington letter in Special Collection on campus, please call 631-632-7119.
To learn more about the spy ring, the Three Village of Historical Society has a once a month walking tour which will be held April 18 and is open to the public. Information can be found on their website at ThreeVillageHistorialSociety.org.
