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.

242 search results

Showing results 1 - 25

Pages

15 April 1787

Wadsworth, Jeremiah (1743-1804)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Discusses the allocation of money from the Treasury warrants. Believes the troops "at all hazards" need to be paid. Wants the next warrant to be used to pay the officers or "they...will consider themselves as greatly injured & will give weight to the opposers of a Federal Government ...

GLC02437.03522

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

1846-1882

McKean Family (fl. 1846-1882)

Header Record

Title: [Correspondence of McKean Family] [Decimalized .01- .18]

Collection of the descendants of Thomas McKean, with genealogy. Includes a report of a "contraband" working on Mississippi fortifications during the Civil War. Most letters are correspondence with Flag Officer William W. McKean (who performed blockade duty during the Civil War but had previously served on board the USS Dale during the 1840s, possibly under McBlair- see GLC00722). Most items with transcriptions; includes genealogy of the Ely Family. Includes 18 letters, 2 carte-de-visites and 2 envelopes.

GLC04188

3 August 1858

Unknown

Autograph letter signed

Title: to "Dear John"

Signed "Charles"

GLC02181.02

12 March 1859

Howard, George W.

Autograph letter signed

Title: to "Cousin John"

Signed "George W. Howard"

GLC02181.03

25 December 1859

Taylor, G. H.

Autograph letter signed

Title: to "Friend Hale"

Signed "G.H. Taylor"

GLC02181.04

1860's ca.

Unknown

Photograph

Title: Black men and women assembled outside large house. [1860's ca.]

The image shows a large house with a fence leading off from either side. Most of the men seem to be on the left, while the women are in a group on the right. Two men stand in the foreground, one on each side, facing each other. The man on the right carries a book. There are two more people on the porch of the house and two leaning out a second story window. Inscription on verso is illegible. Rips in the image have been repaired with tape. Numeric notation on verso: "no 9."

GLC05111.01.0550

1860

Photograph

Title: "Arrival of first negroes in the lines."

Image of fifteen blacks arriving in a covered wagon at a Union Army Camp. Only one of the men in the group is uniformed, and a second soldier is evident, albeit blurred, on a horse to the rear of the wagon. Inscription on verso: "Arrival of first negroes in the lines." Numeric notation on verso: "84."

GLC05111.01.0925

1860

Photograph

Title: Wagon fording the Rappahannock River

A wagon, loaded with people and pulled by oxen, is emerging from fording the Rappahannock River, while what appears to be a colored regiment stands guard. Inscription on verso: "Fugitive Negroes fording Rappahannock River." Numeric notation on verso: "83."

GLC05111.01.0926

1860

Gardner, Alexander (1821-1882)

Photograph

Title: Union officers sitting for a meal with camp scene behind

The image shows 5 Union officers seated at a table drinking, with two young African-American men standing behind them and what appears to be a white cook with an apron. Various white and black soldiers stand in the background among the A-frame tents. Numeric notation on image: "220." Inscription on verso: "Ordway Gardner Coll." Numeric notations on verso: "VIII" and "220."

GLC05111.01.1040

1860

Stevens, Isaac Ingalls

Photograph

Title: Group of officers and two African-American workers

Image shows a group of six artillery officers posed on the front porch of General Stevens' house in Beaufort, South Carolina. In front of the porch stand two African-American workers, one is holding the reins of a horse, which is in the center of the photo. Imprint on recto "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by M. B. Brady, in the Clerk's Offic of the District Court of the District of Columbia." Graphite inscription on verso "Genl. Stevens house, at Beaufort."

GLC05111.02.1352

1860

Photograph

Title: Camp scene

Image shows an African-American man standing in front of two steaming kettles. In the background is a set of train tracks, an A-frame tent, a log cabin, and a wood building surrounded by barrels and other supplies. Graphite inscription on verso "2.50--" "19." Photographers imprint on verso: "Published by E. & H. T. Anthony, 501 Broadway, New York. Manufacturers of the best Photographic Albums."

GLC05111.02.1354

1860

Photograph

Title: Camp scene

Image shows a captain and another officer, rank obscured, eating at table. They are being served by two African-American youths. In the background are three other men looking at the camera, A-frame tents, and general camp scene. Imprint on recto "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by A. Gardner, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Columbia."

GLC05111.02.1356

11 January 1860

Unknown

Autograph letter signed

Title: to "Friend Hale"

Signed [illegible]

GLC02181.05

4 March 1860

Taylor, G Henry

Autograph letter signed

Title: to "Friend Hale"

Signed "G Henry Taylor"

GLC02181.06

1860-1877

Powers, John H.

Header Record

Title: [Collection of John H. Powers, 1st regiment, Vermont, cavalry] [decimalized]

Collection of 75 letters written to a private in the first Vermont Cavalry, 1860-77, from friends and schoolmates at Newbury Seminary, and fraternity brothers from Wesleyan College. Some of the letters are from soldiers in the field, while others are from civilians writing about the war and their work at home. Letters discuss political climate, college courses, the trials of teaching, and the war. The collection also includes a group of 14 printed items.

GLC02181

1861

Gardner, Alexander (1821-1882)

Photograph

Title: [8th Illinois Cavalry]

A print of a photograph of the 8th Illinois Cavalry. Shows W.S. Gamble, D.F. Harp, Captain Wickersham, Alex Ridler. P.M. Aurroa. Seated on the ground in front of the officers is a small African-American boy holding a dog. A small house and a soldier holding a horse are in the background. On verso of mount is a long list of some of the images available from the publisher, taken by Mathew Brady and Alexander Garnder during the war. The mount also has a detailed printed border in red.

GLC05111.01.0146

1861

Mixter, Calvin Symmes (b. 1832)

Diary

Title: [Civil War diary of Calvin S. Mixter]

Signed diary including printed almanac and eclipse calendar in the opening pages. Mixter writes from various locations. Relates the events of 1861, spending most of his time divided between his home in Hanson, Massachusetts, and his workplace in Boston. Reports political affairs, discussing the secession question with colleagues, and holding a Union meeting. Writes to various governmental officials, including Judge John J. Crittenden, but does not discuss the content of the letters. Reports moving to Boston.

GLC06583.01

[1861]

Van Stavoren, J.H.

Photograph

Title: Carte de visite of W.L. [Lindsay]

Van Stavoren imprint and blue two-cent tax stamp on verso. Ink inscription on verso: "Yours truly, W.L. Lindsay[?], Capt. A.A.A.O., Chif. Ca[illegible] and Boss of Hdqr Negro." Three quarter length standing view in uniform.

GLC06272.02

3 June 1861

Newspaper

Title: New-York daily tribune. [Vol. 21, no. 6277 (June 3 1861)]

Includes considerable coverage of opinion from around the country and the globe. On p. 7 is a short letter signed "A Person" about "contraband slaves" being allowed to grow crops for themselves on abandoned estates as proof they can take care of themselves.

GLC08726.11

19 June 1861

Washington, John Augustine (1821-1861)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Ned Turner

Lt. Colonel Washington, George Washington's great-grandnephew and aide-de-camp to Robert E. Lee, discusses Lee's recent promotion, Union general Benjamin Franklin Butler and the recent Battle of Big Bethel, and Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston's evacuation of Harpers Ferry (Virginia). He begins by reviewing various business matters relating to Waveland, his plantation in Fauquier County, Virginia. Washington later mentions that one of his enslaved people had run away from Mount Vernon, and is now with Union forces.

GLC02953.01

22 July 1861

Clark, Hank S. (fl. 1861-1865)

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Washington

He writes that the army has left Alton and are under marching orders to St. Charles, Missouri. The troops are ready to leave and waiting for the cars to arrive. The engineer was worried that the rebels had obstructed or damaged part of the train track during the night. They are ready to go at a moment's notice but are still waiting for the train. Mentions General John Pope. Writes that there are many slaves around the camp but they are not allowed in. States that the rebels are more likely to run then fight, "unless they can get behind a tree." Gus Taylor has the measles.

GLC03523.42.03

30 August 1861

Confederate States of America. Congress

Printed document

Title: An Act to perpetuate testimony in cases of slaves abducted or harbored by the enemy, and of other property seized, wasted, or destroyed by them. No. 270.

Appears to be a circular. Possibly created in Richmond, Virginia. Gives orders for the procedure slave owners may follow when their slaves are abducted or harbored. Notes that the Confederate States are not liable to make compensation for Confederate citizens' property that is lost or destroyed.

GLC06607

30 August 1861

The Congress of the Confederate States of America

Printed document

Title: An act to perpetuate testimony in cases of slaves abducted or harbored by the enemy, and of other property seized, wasted, or destroyed by them. No. 270.

GLC06745.005

30 August 1861

Confederate States of America. Congress

Printed document

Title: An act to perpetuate testimony in cases of slaves abducted or Harbored by the Enemy, and other property seized, wasted, or destroyed by them

Confederate act concerning the official documenting of slaves and other private property taken by the Union. Listed as act number two hundred and seventy.

GLC08979.02

Showing results 1 - 25

Pages