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.

Pittman, Portia Washington (1883-1978) to Alice J. Cutright Kaine

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05508.255.02 Author/Creator: Pittman, Portia Washington (1883-1978) Place Written: Tuskegee, Alabama Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 21 July 1940 Pagination: 3 p. ; 16.6 x 23.7 cm. Order a Copy

Washington writes to Kaine to forward a first day issue stamp promised in an earlier letter (see GLC05508.255.01). Her brother, Booker T. Washington, Jr., has been in the hospital and is about to be released. He is still weak and jobless, however, and Washington comments, "the school's attitude has been most unfriendly to us all, since my father's death. It is truly a tragic situation for us all." Includes first day issue stamp and envelope cancelled at Tuskegee (see GLC05508.255.03).

Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute in 1881. Kaine worked at the Institute during the 1890s, and developed close ties to the Washington family, including Washington's daughter Portia.

Kaine, Alice J. Cutright, 1864-1947
Pittman, Portia Marshall Washington, 1883-1978
Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915

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