Our Collection

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.

Furniss, John P. (fl. 1861) to Judge Haden

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00653.24.01 Author/Creator: Furniss, John P. (fl. 1861) Place Written: New Orleans, Louisiana Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 5 January 1861 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 18.3 x 14.5 cm. Order a Copy

Asks for financial remittance due to his having taken "private classes to improve [himself] in particular branches of Medicine." Relates that two convicts hung the day before, and a friend of his took a part of one of the bodies for Furniss to dissect. Signed "Your friend & ward." Furniss was a Confederate doctor.

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