Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 70,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World to soldiers’ letters from World War II and Vietnam. Explore primary sources, visit exhibitions in person or online, or bring your class on a field trip.

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Pages

[1785] "1782"

Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826)

Book signed

Title: Notes on the State of Virginia [Edmund Randolph's copy] [with other works]

Bound with three rare pamphlets: "Draught of a Fundamental Constitution for ...

GLC05096

1801-1879

Harris, Edwin E. (fl. 1801-1879)

Header Record

Title: [Collection of Edwin E. Harris, field and staff, 8th battallion, Missouri, infantry]

Dr. Harris's regiment was also known as Clark's 9th Missouri. With related family correspondence concerning the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi west.

GLC03135.10

1815-1860

Unknown

Object

Title: [fern leaves in wooden frame]

Fern leaves in small, thin, handmade wooden frame with cardboard backing. Inscription on verso: "Ferns from the Boquet [sic] on the Flag Staff upon which was raised the National Flag at Ft. Sumpter [sic] at the close of the Civil War in April, 1865."

GLC05136.54

1815-1860

Carlile, John Snyder (1817-1878)

Signature

Title: John S. Carlile

Written on verso: Senator, Va - 7/61-3/3/65

GLC05603.02.26

1815-1860

Mercer, J. T.

Signature

Title: J. T. Mercer

GLC05603.02.59

1815-1860

Unknown

Autograph note

Title: [a poem]

GLC09324.02

January 1862

McKinney, Erastus R. (fl. 1851-1904)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

re: mess duty, release of Confederate comissioners James Mason and John Slidell; capture of 100 hogs. Top portion missing.

GLC02179.01.019

1815-1860

Wright, E. A.

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Miller A. Wright

[step-mother] E. A. is concerned about his life and safety in the Army. She is going to make him a coat, but this task is made difficult by the fact that little cotton had been planted that year.

GLC02691.11.010

16 [no month] 1863

Flora

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Miller A. Wright

[cousin]. [bottom section of the page missing]. Flora has been afraid to send a letter for fear that it will get contaminated with smallpox. Her sister will no longer eat any meat for fear of the disease. The war has jaded her. Sometimes she thinks it might be better "to die than to live in this dreary world."

GLC02691.11.050

1815-1860

Allman, Nancy

Autograph letter signed

Title: to grandson

A very religious letter urging her grandson to pray for God's help in battle and to "try to gow to sleep a praying as you don't know where the enimy is."

GLC02691.11.104

1815-1860

Wright, E.

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Miller A. Wright

Miller's stepmother writes to tell him that she has sent him food and to ask him to write more often. She thinks she will go to Richmond soon.

GLC02691.11.105

1815-1860

Bailey T. (1805-1877)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Flag Officer

Discusses a "contraband negro" who brought news of confederate troop movements

GLC04188.05

1822-1874

Header Record

Title: Civil War statesmen: 33 letters & docs [decimalized]

GLC02469

1823-1938

Jones, Alfred (1839-1920)

Header Record

Title: [Collection of Alfred Jones, surgeon in the 17th Tennessee Regiment]

Includes postwar papers. Some signatures have been removed. The letters contain battle content for Murfreesboro (3 and 12 January 1863) and Chickamauga (1 October 1863). During the war Jones wooed and married Maxine Harris. The collection reveals less about the war than the trials of two newlyweds. The collection consists of 32 prewar letters (1823-61); 43 wartime letters, the majority of which are written by Jones to his wife (1862-65); and 16 postwar letters.

GLC03135.13

1831-1864

Header Record

Title: Collection of George Wortham [Decimalized .01-.56]

The majority of this collection consists of correspondence and other documents directed to Captain George "Granville Greys" Wortham from other military personnel. These materials discuss recruitment of personnel and unrest within the Confederate army, court martial proceedings and punishment for crimes such as desertion and theft, and day-to-day movements and communications of the army. The collection also includes documents signed by Wortham, including letters to his father. Some materials lend particular insight into Confederate views of African-Americans.

GLC02233

circa 1833-1865

Jones Family

Header Record

Title: Miscellaneous papers from the Jones Family of Virginia [Decimalized .01- .18]

Collection includes receipts, contracts, newspaper clippings, and accounting documentation for the Jones family of Virginia. Also includes two booklet editions of the Consitution and By-laws of the Hanover Dragoons, and a hiring contract for free black workers.

GLC01447

1834-1866

Semmes, Paul Jones (1815-1863)

Header Record

Title: Collection of Paul J. Semmes, 2nd Regiment, Georgia, infantry [Decimalized .01-.38]

Documents relating to the arming of Georgia and Semmes's militia and early Civil War service. Most documents are housed together, although .4 and .18 are in oversize documents and .38 (button) is housed separately. Includes his Univ of Virginia instruction certificate, pre-war militia training, manuals.

GLC00572

28 February 1862

McCall, Paul (fl. 1862)

Document signed

Title: [Document regarding the mortgage of McCall's cotton crop]

Indicates that "the cotton crop of Paul McCall for the year 1862 and subsequent years is mortgaged to AS Morgan... conditioned that the said crop of cotton shall be delivered on the Ouachita River and thence shipped to New Orleans by said Morgan..." The shipment of cotton is impossible" on account of the condition of the country," thus McCall and Morgan agree the cotton should remain on McCall's plantation. Cosigned by A.S. Morgan. W. Johnson signs as a witness.

GLC06261.01.03

1836-1871

Gibson, Randall Lee (1832-1892)

Header Record

Title: Archive of Confederate general & family, primarily pre- and post-war re: plantation, slaves, military maneuvers, reconstruction. [decimalized]

Randall Lee Gibson and Family archive, divided into two sections: Randall Lee Gibson correspondence (.001-.039 and .025B) and Gibson family correspondence (.040-.105). The collection contains letters, military documents, financial documents (including bills of slave sales) and a carte de visite. The collection shows some child-rearing and education practices in southern Louisiana in the ante-bellum South. Other Gibson materials in the Gilder Lehrman Collection include GLC0026 (ALS to Col. T. O'Hara, 1/11/1863), GLC00821 (ALS to John C.

GLC04501

1836-1874

Confederate States of America. Generals

Header Record

Title: Confederate generals from the deep south: 21 letters & docs [decimalized]

[decimalized 02460.01-02460.21]

GLC02460

1837

Harwood, Ebenezer (fl. 1837-)

Autograph manuscript

Title: A Book of Records

Includes marriages, births, and deaths.

GLC02744.278

25 January 1837

Taylor, E. W. (fl. 1837)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Jeremiah Wilbur

Taylor, a Northerner who had moved to South Carolina and became a slave owner, explains his views on slavery and his willingness to fight for it. "If these matters are going to be carried so far as to the separation of the Union and blood must be spilt I fight for the South, & feel as though I could plunge the dagger to the heart almost of a brother in such a glorious cause. It would be for Liberty, Liberty." Believes abolitionists should leave well enough alone or the result might be the dissolution of the Union.

GLC08476

1837-1908

Stafford, Robert H. (fl. 1837-1866)

Header Record

Title: Robert H. Stafford Collection [Decimalized .01- .98]

Stafford enlisted as a sergeant in the 12th Alabama infantry. Contains letters and newsclippings about the Peninsula Campaign, advance into Maryland, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Early's raid on Washington, D.C. Preliminary inventory included.

GLC02618

1837-1929

Burpee, Thomas Francis (1830-1864)

Header Record

Title: [Collection of Thomas Francis Burpee, field and staff, 21st regiment, Connecticut, infantry] [Decimalized .001- .385]

Mentions Fredericksburg, Suffolk, North Carolina, and the 1863 Virginia campaign. Burpee was wounded at Cold Harbor, Virginia on June 9, 1864 and died a few days later. The collection includes memorabilia connected to his death.

GLC02744

1 January 1839-24 April 1858

Jones, William (fl. 1823-1860)

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Plantation Book]

Plantation account book of William Jones, the owner of a cotton plantation in the vicinity of Jonesville, Liberty County, Georgia, near Savannah. Also mentions planting rice, but cotton appears to be the main staple of the plantation. Gives a nearly day-by-day account of the operation of his plantation. The book was kept as a record of planting, harvests, weather, preparation of ground, allocation of slave labor, crop yields, prices realized, and other agricultural matters. Provides extremely little on Jones's personal life.

GLC03703

Showing results 1 - 25

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