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.

Humphreys, Sarah (fl. 1830-1840) to Joseph A. Humphreys

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04501.101 Author/Creator: Humphreys, Sarah (fl. 1830-1840) Place Written: Louisville, KY Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 29 March circa 1840 Pagination: 2 p. : address ; 25.5 x 20.5 cm. Order a Copy

Writing to her son, she recounts the family's experiences in the city. Her daughters have attended so many parties they are running out of clothes. She wishes for a lock of her son's hair to make a bracelet. Writes that she has been to see "Daguerre's celebrated chemical pictures [Dioramas] from Paris, (oil paintings) in which, by modifying the light upon the picture, are exhibited two entirely distinct representations on the same canvas . . . ." She identifies the images as the Monastery of Mount Surrat in Catatonia, St. Eteinne's church at Paris, and the crumbling of mount Rouffiberg [?] into the Valley Goldau. Date is not listed on the letter, likely written post 1840's; see Daguerre's biography.

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