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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.

Spinner, Francis Elias (1802-1890) to C[harles]. L[afayette]. MacArthur

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03224 Author/Creator: Spinner, Francis Elias (1802-1890) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Letter Date: 4 January 1874 Pagination: 5 p. Order a Copy

Thanks him for a copy of the second series of the Breitmann Ballads since his copy keeps getting stolen. The "Hiram Irvines are largely on the increase just now, and I fear the party has not the right kind of men at the front to lead them off." Feels it is possible that Congress will enact a workable monetary policy: "what is really needed, next to the resumption of specie payments, is a currency, that will at all times adapt itself to the business wants of the country." Written as Secretary of the Treasury.

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