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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.

Nourse, Joseph (1754-1841) to Joseph Clarke

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01450.008.08 Author/Creator: Nourse, Joseph (1754-1841) Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 27 August 1779 Pagination: 3 p. : docket ; 30.1 x 38 cm Order a Copy

Signed as Assistant Auditor General. Informs Clarke of a resolution of Congress passed 26 August 1779 stating that the Board of Treasury must present to Congress on or before 10 September 1779 an account of the monies received by the Continental Loan Offices up to 28 February 1779, as well as the amount received from 1 March 1779 to 10 September 1779, separated by each office. Reports that the Auditor General cannot comply with these directions because of the irregularity of Clarke's returns. Sternly requests that Clarke immediately send in his returns and orders that from now on he must do this monthly. Third page has a handwritten form that can be filled in with the requested information. The Continental Loan Offices administered loans to the Continental Treasury to help finance the war effort. Clarke was the Commissioner of the Continental Loan Office in Rhode Island.

Joseph Nourse was a Revolutionary War veteran who as a secretary to General Charles Lee and a clerk and paymaster for the Board of War. He was a register of the United States Treasuy from 1781-1829.

Nourse, Joseph, 1754-1841
Clarke, Joseph, 1719-1792

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