HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — One of America's largest troves of political and campaign memorabilia is headed for the auction block, spurring protests from some who do not want to see it divided up and sold to private collectors.
The University of Hartford plans to hire an auction house and sell off more than 70,000 items, many of them donated by the late J. Doyle DeWitt, a former chairman of the Connecticut-based Travelers Cos. who spent decades amassing letters from presidents, campaign posters, buttons and advertisements dating to the 18th century.
Isn't it amazing how many inconsistencies are filtered through modern minds? For example, how is it that many college students decry the racist, even capitalist, backgrounds of some of their campus benefactors? Yet they give wide birth to others who held similar racist views in their time.
Students want dorm names changed at Harvard, and President Calhoun's name taken off buildings at Yale; Cecil Rhodes is no longer admired for providing scholarships to study abroad; an avalanche of complaints circulate at the University of Virginia where Jefferson left his favorite legacy. Students are outraged that their benefactors would by today's standards be considered racists.
