My parents found a set of letters in a drawer written between 1902-1930ish. There are 5-10 letters, each 1-10 pages long. Some are handwritten, some are from a typewriter. They are from James L. Scott, a clerk in the Philippines during the Spanish-American war, to his sister in Louisiana. I think it's this guy: (https://www.google.com/books/edition/Elihu_Root_Collection_of_United_States_D/6HpQAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=james+l+scott+manila+clerk&pg=RA7-PA46&printsec=frontcover)
I only got to read a little bit of them while I was in town visiting. I don't have any scans or pictures of their contents right now. I thought they were pretty interesting. I recall an anecdote from one letter in which a woman in America put out an ad looking for another James Scott who had deserted her, and James L. Scott's friends played a prank on him by giving the woman his contact info, causing him to receive an angry letter from this woman. There was a section about the behavior of priests in Manilla, and another part where he called the locals "inhuman pigs." There was also a part where he said someone made him an explicit monetary offer to join the Boxers, but he "was doing well for himself and didn't want to have his hand cut off by the Chinese." I read < 5% of them, but those are the bits I remember.
Here are my questions:
Thanks.
First-person accounts are important sources for us. The significance of James L. Scott comes from what he witnessed and described, not his fame. If he's actually describing events in the Spanish American War, the subsequent Philippine-American War, or commenting on the Boxer Rebellion, those letters could well be useful.
Monetary value might rather low: you might do an online search on those stamps, as sometimes stamps from colonies are rather rare. But don't get your expectations up. Stamp collectors are increasingly geriatric, so stamp collections in general are not a hot item in the antiques market.
You can do a lot to preserve them yourself, assuming they're not falling to bits and need a paper conservator. Keep them cool, dry, and out of the light. Scan them and keep the digital copies. If you like, you can even get an acid-free box for storage.
There'd likely be any number of places interested in them. Even the Library of Congress might be happy to have them, or the US Army War College. But a simple choice would be the state or local historical society. What state, city or town was James L. Scott writing to? There are already a number of Spanish American War collections, local ones like this one in Indiana. Search one out, drop a line, and they'd likely say, great, love to have them, send 'em on. The important thing is to make sure they don't get stuffed away in someone's attic or dispersed, that they eventually get into some collection where they can be preserved and used.
Historical documents rarely have monetary value, but I want to point out that we don't allow appraisals in the sub so that's all anyone can say about that.
I have a past post on donating to museums and preserving at home that you might find useful.