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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, Walter to Johnston Livingston re: description of a spectacular gas experiment

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03107.04100 Author/Creator: Livingston, Walter Place Written: New York, New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1834/11/18 Pagination: 3p. + addr. 24.8 x 19.7 cm Order a Copy

Walter describes a scene he witnessed when a woman inhaled some gas as part of an experiment, and consequently lost her senses and danced around a room in a wild and hysterical fashion.

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