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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.

Pearce, W. Henry to Selina

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00066.150 Author/Creator: Pearce, W. Henry Place Written: Marietta, Ohio Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 16 April 1865 Pagination: 6 p. ; 20 x 13 cm. Order a Copy

Discusses Lincoln's assassination. Signed "W.H." Later handwritten note attributes letter to Henry.

The news of course, came to all, like a clap of thunder in a clear sky....The first thought on hearing that President Lincoln, to whom we had looked as the leader and even the savior of our nation, had been assassinated, was that all was lost and our country ruined. But...we find in Andrew Johnson a man who...is fitted to the instrument in God's hand of carrying out His vengeances...the uppermost feeling in men's minds is "Death to all traitors and sympathizers" there has already been several shot in Cincinnati for rejoicing at the death of the President....I never saw such a day of gloom before...each felt as if he had lost a relative.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Booth, John Wilkes, 1838-1865

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