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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.

Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) [Letter and Newspaper][Decimalized .01- .02]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00005 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Header Record Date: 25 January 1862 - 04 August 1863 Pagination: 2 items Order a Copy

Letter from Lincoln to General Hurlbut not to order subpar guns, and a issue of Scientific America with a cover story on guns.

Notes: Partially printed in Basler 11: 77, from a Sotheby-Parke-Bernet sale catalog description. Research by John Lundstrom of the Milwaukee Public Museum, proves that this letter is the earliest known link between Lincoln and the Spencer rifle. This letter predates the famous (but mythical) meeting of the President and Mr. Spencer by two weeks. Conversation with John Lundstrom 26 Aug. 1996.
These rifles appear to be the Spencer rifle, per John B. Lundstrom, curator of American history, Milwaukee Public Museum.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Hurlbut, Stephen Augustus, 1815-1882

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