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.

Adams, John Quincy (1767-1848) [Patent for William Willis' improvement in the two-cylinder atmospheric steam engine, or generating steam engine]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00065 Author/Creator: Adams, John Quincy (1767-1848) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Document signed Date: 14 November 1826 Pagination: 3 p. ; 37.7 x 28 cm. Order a Copy

Signed by John Quincy Adams as President. Countersigned by Henry Clay as Secretary of State and William Wirt as Attorney General. Willis' description of his improvement is signed by Horace Atley and Robert Browne as witnesses. Contains a receipt for thirty dollars attached to the back of page one signed by Thomas Tudor Tucker, United States Treasurer. Sealed and bound with blue ribbon and accompanied by a paper seal.

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848
Atley, Horace, fl. 1826
Browne, Robert, fl. 1826
Clay, Henry, 1777-1852
Tucker, Thomas Tudor, 1745-1828
Willis, William, fl. 1826
Wirt, William, 1772-1834

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