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.

Sherzer, Edwin B. to Clara M. Miller

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05755.010 Author/Creator: Sherzer, Edwin B. Place Written: Nome, Alaska Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 27 July 1900 Pagination: 10 p. : envelope ; 23.6 x 16.0 cm. Order a Copy

Says he was on a "prospecting tour." Says she wouldn't recognize him with bronzed hands, two weeks' beard, etc. Prices & problems making money: "I feel very much disheartened and discouraged and if things do not turn out better I don't know what we are going to do. We will live but that is about all. Men up here are getting in such desperate straits, they have begun to rob and murder [. . . .] We sleep with our revolvers right where we can get our hands on them [. . . .]" Mentions pneumonia epidemic among Indians at Safety; describes beauties in the wilds: "it makes you awe stricken to gaze at all these wonderful sights." Describes "Esquimaux" habits and housing.

Sherzer, Edwin B. (Edwin Berger), 1874-1955

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