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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Hooper, Samuel (1808-1875) to William Pitt Fessenden

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01596.01 Author/Creator: Hooper, Samuel (1808-1875) Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 18 July 1864 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 20.1 x 26.5 cm. Order a Copy

Hooper, a United States Representative from Massachusetts, discusses the prospect of obtaining bank loans for the United States Treasury. Informs Fessenden, Secretary of the Treasury, that " ... I have become strongly impressed with the idea that an appeal to the people would be cheerfully responded to and if encouraged by liberal subscriptions the banks would furnish more money …I do not regret your failure to make a negotiation with them in New York." Hooper notes that he will be in New York for a day and will meet with Mr. Cisco. Also discusses the death of Lt. Mason, evidently in Washington, D.C., the removal of his body from, and subsequent "purification" of, the house in which he apparently died, Hooper's plan to move back into the house, and his invitation to Fessenden to join him.

Hooper served as Representative from 1861 to 1874.

Fessenden, William Pitt, 1806-1869
Hooper, Samuel, 1808-1875

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