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.

Bradley & Rulofson. [Cabinet photograph of Joshua Abraham Norton]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02729.01 Author/Creator: Bradley & Rulofson. Place Written: San Francisco, Ca. Type: Photograph Date: circa 1878 Pagination: 1 cabinet card ; 16.5 x 10.7 cm. Order a Copy

Signed "Emperor Norton." Three-quarter profile photograph of a seated Norton. He is wearing an officer's uniform.

Joshua Norton was an Englishman who came to America during the California Gold Rush of 1849 and proclaimed himself emperor of the United States. Mark Twain is said to have modeled the character of Huck Finn on Norton.

Bradley, Henry William, 1813-1891
Rulofson, William Herman, 1826-1878
Norton, Joshua Abraham, 1819-1880

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