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.

Otis, Harrison G. (1765-1848) to George Ashmun

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02504.32 Author/Creator: Otis, Harrison G. (1765-1848) Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 30 September 1839 Pagination: 1 p. : address ; 22.5 x 18.5 cm. Order a Copy

Otis, a former Massachusetts Congressman, declines an invitation from Massachusetts State Senator Ashmun, a member of the committee making arrangements for the Western Railroad Festival. Declares that the opening of the Western Railroad "is destined to have a more decisive and permanent bearing upon the prosperity of Massachusetts than all the measures of public improvement that have been adopted from its first settlement."

The Western Railroad Festival commemorated the opening of the railroad between Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts.

Ashmun, George, 1804-1870
Otis, Harrison Gray, 1765-1848

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