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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.

Medill, Joseph (1823-1899) Chicago tribune. [Vol. 28, no. 280 (April 15, 1865)]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00339.03 Author/Creator: Medill, Joseph (1823-1899) Place Written: Chicago, Illinois Type: Newspaper Date: 15 April 1865 Pagination: 2 p. : newspaper ; 72 x 55.2 cm. Order a Copy

Reports that president Lincoln has been assassinated and that an attempt was made on Secretary Seward's life. Also reports that Jefferson Davis has issued an edict at Danville. Article about reconstruction in Virginia on second page.

The company was founded in 1847. That year, on June 10, the Chicago Tribune published its first edition in a one-room plant located at LaSalle and Lake Streets. The original press run consisted of 400 copies printed on a hand press.
In 1869, the Tribune erected its first building, a four-story structure at Dearborn and Madison Streets. In October 1871, when the Great Chicago Fire raged through the city, the wooden building was destroyed, as was most of the city. The Tribune reappeared two days later with an editorial declaring "Chicago Shall Rise Again." The newspaper’s editor and part-owner, Joseph Medill, was elected mayor and led the city’s reconstruction. A native Ohioan who first acquired an interest in the Tribune in 1855, Medill gained full control of the newspaper in 1874 and guided it until his death in 1899.

Medill, Joseph, 1823-1899
Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889
Seward, William H. (William Henry), 1801-1872
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

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