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.

Thompson, Jacob (1810-1885) to James C. Dobbin

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02459.31 Author/Creator: Thompson, Jacob (1810-1885) Place Written: Memphis, Tennessee Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 30 August 1855 Pagination: 1 p. : address : docket ; 24.3 x 19.1 cm. Order a Copy

Informs Dobbin, United States Secretary of the Navy, that J. P. Milton, presently the Secretary of the Commandant of the Navy Yard at Memphis, desires appointment as a Naval purser. Writes, "By the discontinuance of the Navy Yard at this place, he will be thrown out of employment. I hope you may be able to confer this appointment... the Government could not do better than to avail itself of his services- Let me insist upon a favorable consideration of his application..." Docket indicates that the appointment is desired by John P. Milton.

Thompson served as United States Representative from Mississippi 1839-1850, and Secretary of the Interior 1857-1861.

Thompson, Jacob, 1810-1885
Dobbin, James Cochran, 1814-1857
Milton, John P., fl. 1855

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