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.

Unknown [Illinois Soldiers College, 1866-1873]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05111.01.0010 Author/Creator: Unknown Place Written: Fulton, Illinois Type: Photograph Date: 1866-1873 Pagination: 1 albumen print ; 16.1 x 21.3 cm. Order a Copy

A print of a photograph of the main building of Illinois Soldiers College, established March 30th, 1866 in Fulton, IL as a school where disabled veterans and their children, as well as orphans of Union soldiers, could receive an education. The school was first established as the Western Union College and Military Academy in September of 1861. Funded by the state of Illinois and renamed in 1873 to Northern Illinois College, and then in 1903 to Hansen's Military Academy. It is an albumen print mounted on two layers of backing material.

Information sourced from Bent, C., ed., History of Whitside County, Illinois: From its first settlement to the present time with numerous biographical and family sketches (Morrison, IL: L.P. Allen, 1877), 178-180 [https://books.google.com/books?id=mTMVAAAAYAAJ&] and the City of Fulton, IL website [http://www.cityoffulton.us/news/hansen-military-academy.html].

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