A Guide to the Alexander McDonald Letter to Grover Cleveland 1887 August 22
A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 11076
![[logo]](http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/logos/uva-sc.jpg)
Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections LibraryUniversity of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Reference Request Form: https://small.lib.virginia.edu/reference-request/
URL: http://small.library.virginia.edu/
© 2001 By the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. All rights reserved.
Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Special Collections Department
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.
Preferred Citation
Alexander McDonald Letter to Grover Cleveland, 1887 August 22, Accession #11076, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
Acquisition Information
The Library purchased the letter from Timothy H. Bakken, Halvor Americana, Clarendon Hills, Illinois, on February 2, 1993.
Biographical/Historical Information
Alexander McDonald (?-1897) was the editor of The Lynchburg Virginian from 1887-1893, when it was merged into the Lynchburg News by Carter Glass, owner. The letter was part of the papers of Daniel S. Lamont, Cleveland's private secretary and Secretary of War.
Scope and Content Information
This two page autograph letter, August 22, 1887, from Alexander McDonald (?-1897), secretary of the Lynchburg Agricultural and Mechanical Society, to "Mr. President" [Grover Cleveland], urges the president to make a brief political trip to the Lynchburg Fairgrounds during October on behalf of the Democratic Party to combat the influence of "Mahoneism" in Virginia, "Speaking now, not as Secretary but as the Editor of a leading Democratic journal, I say that I solemnly believe the best interests of Virginia are involved in this proposed visit and it may be the country too. If you knew, as we do, the horrors of Mahoneism, you would not begrudge us the few hours of your time which we ask."