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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.

Shaler, William Diary as secret US agent at New Orleans, Natchitoches, La., Washington, etc.

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05246.01 Author/Creator: Shaler, William Place Written: [various places] Type: Autograph manuscript Date: 1811-1812 Pagination: 1 v. 33.7 x 20.9 cm Order a Copy

Shaler served as Madison and Monroe's secret agent in Louisiana on the Texas border. He was instructed to try to encourage revolution in Texas against Spanish and Mexican authority. At the same time, all of his activities had to be deniable. His letters and reflections, contained in the first two volumes (.01-.02), describe his relations with revolutionaries and other agents, his meetings with the President and his observations on power and spheres of influence. The letter copies have been published from the originals in the National Archives, but the diary portions and observations on power in Latin America have not been published.

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