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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.

Bourne, Sylvanus (1761-1817) to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.10223 Author/Creator: Bourne, Sylvanus (1761-1817) Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 16 January 1790 Pagination: 2 p. ; 37.7 x 20.2 cm. Order a Copy

Writes to request that Knox present some papers to the President on his behalf and apologizes for the inconvenience. Wishes to "remove any unfavorable impressions if such should have been made...as it contains my sincere sentiments." States in the post script that "so long a time has elapsed since my first application of the same Nature as the person, and as in the interim I have asked for a domestic employ that there is a propriety in the [renewal ?] of my application now least the President might suppose I was otherwise engaged & had entirely relinquished my wishes." Feels assured that the recipient will "conduct the whole matter in a manner most conducive to the success of my object as you are acquainted with the Presidents disposition in these cases as well as of my anxious desire for the Place." Note at the bottom of the first page states "Please Turn Over." Watermarked with a hunting horn inside a crest and the letters "G R" underneath.

Bourne was the U.S. consul to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from 1790-1791and Amsterdam, Netherlands from 1794-1817.

Bourne, Sylvanus, 1761-1817

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