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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.

Abbott, Lyman (1835-1922) to Mr. Davidson

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05508.015 Author/Creator: Abbott, Lyman (1835-1922) Place Written: Brooklyn, New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 2 October 1897 Pagination: 3 p. 17.6 x 11.4 cm Order a Copy

Abbott, a Congregational cleric, clergyman, and author, writes to Davidson, possibly a clergyman in an obscure pastorate. Abbott praises the "quiet work" individually undertaken by "many great men" in an effort to bring about a "new rational faith." This new faith will lay the spiritual superstructure for the coming generations, who will reject the old tradition of ecclesiastical authority. But it must be made palatable to coming generations, or the result will be "spiritual burial, followed by death social and political." Abbott was an exponent of the Social Gospel movement.

Abbott, Lyman, 1835-1922

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