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.

Cartes de visite of officers (mostly white) of 59th US Colored Inf. (ex-slaves)

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03565 Author/Creator: Place Written: [various places] Type: Photograph Date: June 1863 after Pagination: 39 photographs + album 11 x 6 cm Order a Copy

After June 1863, when the regiment was organized in LaGrange, Tenn. The photographs were originally in a photo album. The 59th was originally called the 1st US Tennessee Vols. (African Descent) and 1st West Tenn. Inf. Regt (African Descent). Some of the photographs are signed with homes noted. (The Grant photograph dates from 1864, perhaps when the album was collected.)

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