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.

Pilsberry, Levi to Joseph B. Varnum

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03845.04 Author/Creator: Pilsberry, Levi Place Written: Winchendon, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 10 December 1800 Pagination: 3 p. + addr. Order a Copy

Mentions visiting Varnum's home in Dracut, Massachusetts, but missing him since Varnum was in Congress at the time. Comments on the importance of education, both religious and civil. Discusses the growing strength of Republicanism, and asserts that the "success of the Christian Religion, depends much on the example and patronage of civil Rules." Inquires about the new city of Washington, D.C. Varnum was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 1795-1811.

Pilsbury, Levi, 1771-1819
Varnum, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradley), 1751-1821

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