Small Archive of Letters

Seven Typed Letters Signed from Clark to Arthur J. Sussel, from 1953 through 1955. The letters, written on Clark's Brevard, North Carolina stationery, are near fine with a few small flaws. A small group of interesting and friendly letters between the important naval historian and author Clark, and the Philadelphia antiques dealer and nautical collector Sussel. Clark was an advertising executive but his interest in naval history evolved from a hobby into a second career, and he became the foremost authority on certain naval aspects of the American Revolution. He was appointed by the U.S. Navy as the first editor of the multi-volume series *Naval Documents of the American Revolution*. Clark helped Sussel in researching items in his collection, including an important portrait of James Josiah by Charles Willson Peale. The letters are about individual items in the collection and about Clark's own books. Accompanied by a carbon of a letter from Sussel's widow, dated in 1961, to H.F. duPont suggesting that the White House might want to buy Sussel's collection intact for Jacqueline Kennedy's renovation of the White House interior.…