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.

Educational Commission for Freedmen (Boston, Mass.) First annual report of the educational commission for freedmen.

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06232.15 Author/Creator: Educational Commission for Freedmen (Boston, Mass.) Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Pamphlet Date: May 1863 Pagination: 1 v. : 22 p. ; 23 x 14.5 cm. Order a Copy

Printed by Prentiss & Deland. Discusses the Port Royal Experiment, in which former slaves successfully worked on land abandoned by plantation owners on islands off the coast of South Carolina. Includes a report of the committee of teachers sent to Port Royal: "The instruction most needed by the blacks was not in the knowledge of school books, but in that which should lead them to appreciate the advantages of civilized life, to relinquish many of the habits and customs of slavery, and to learn the duties and responsibilities of free men." John Albion Andrew was chosen as President of the commission.

Andrew was Governor of Massachusetts 1861-1866, and was instrumental in the creation of some of the earliest black regiments to fight in the Civil War.

Educational Commission for Freedmen (Boston, Mass.)
Andrew, John Albion, 1818-1867

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