A collection of papers from the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, including two letters that he wrote while he was in India studying Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, have fetched more than USD 130,000 at an auction here.
King wrote the two letters to his personal secretary, Maude Ballou, when he was in India in 1959. One letter that King sent from Bangalore sold for USD 18,750 and another from Bombay fetched USD 17,500.
The material, more than 100 artifacts in all, sold yesterday at Heritage auctions, New York, were consigned to auction after more than half a century in the possession of 88-year-old Ballou.
The collection included King's handwritten notes on eight cards containing the outline of his famed 'Dexter Avenue Church Farewell Address,' circa 1960, which realised USD 31,250 as the top lot of the archive.
Two autograph draft chapters from his first book, Stride Toward Freedom, chapters III and IX, both realised equal prices of USD 8,125.
"This was simply an unprecedented auction of amazing, evocative material that provides a ground-level perspective of the civil rights struggle," said Sandra Palomino, Director of Historical Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions.
"There was worldwide interest in the material and the emotional response to it was huge," Palomino said.
