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.

Ivy, Edward (1857-1880) Reconstruction archive: CSA parole & oath, Bailey Family contracts with freedmen [Decimalized .01-.16]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04522 Author/Creator: Ivy, Edward (1857-1880) Place Written: [various places] Type: Header Record Date: 1857-1880 Pagination: 16 items Order a Copy

The collection includes a Georgia parole for the soldier (sometimes "Edwin") of New Orleans (#1), an agreement dated 5/22/1865 to register his plantation while abiding by the laws now protecting freedmen (#7); oaths of allegiance and amnesty (#2-4, 8), and three contracts between the Bailey Family (in Arkansas) with freeman Alie Bailey and other freed slaves (#8-10), as well as personal papers. The contracts offer different compensation (one freeman was single).

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