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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.

Livingston, Robert Cambridge to Robert Livingston, Jr. re: decline to purchase a house

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03107.03383 Author/Creator: Livingston, Robert Cambridge Place Written: Pa. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1779/01/20 Pagination: 3p. + addr. 30.6 x 18.2 cm Order a Copy

Robert Cambridge thanks his father for recommending a house to him, but decides that he will wait to purchase one until both the war and his own personal affairs are settled. He explains that a large shipment of iron has just arrived, and though some of it is of poor quality, Robert Cambridge strongly encourages his father to purchase it. He also notes that it is wiser to invest in trade rather than land at the moment. Docket and AN on address leaf.

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