Our Collection

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.

Payne, Thomas N. (fl. 1857) [Check promising payment of $124]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04128.02 Author/Creator: Payne, Thomas N. (fl. 1857) Place Written: Lexington, Missouri Type: Printed document signed Date: 7 April 1857 Pagination: 1 check ; 8.7 x 20.2 cm. Order a Copy

Payne promises to pay the sum to Waddell, Russell, & Co. (William Bradford Waddell, William Hepburn Russell, and Alexander Majors).

Waddell, Russell, & Co. started as a shipping company in 1854. Through a War Department contract, the firm soon gained a monopoly in the shipping business in western Missouri. In 1860, the firm established the Pony Express to provide weekly mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California.

Payne, Thomas N., fl. 1857
Russell, William Hepburn, 1812-1872
Waddell, William Bradford, 1807-1872
Majors, Alexander, 1814-1900

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