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.

Aaron Hobart Collection [Decimalized .01-.04.445]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06313 Author/Creator: Place Written: various Type: Header Record Date: 1804-1889 [bulk 1810-1827] Pagination: 587 items Order a Copy

Includes letters and documents that span Hobart's entire career, from the time that he was a law student, a lawyer, a representative, and, finally, a judge. The documents shed light on both Hobart's personal and political lives. The bulk of the collection is made up of correspondence to and from Hobart's family, his friends, and his legal and political colleagues such as fellow Brown graduate and Massachusetts representative Zabdiel Sampson and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. The correspondence touches on a range of topics, including social and health matters, business and financial transactions, New England life, the status of laws and legal affairs, political opinions and news, and philosophical matters about society at large.

Aaron Hobart, lawyer, jurist, state senator, and congressman, was born on June 26, 1787 in Abington, Massachusetts. Hobart pursued classical studies and graduated from Brown University in 1805. Thereafter, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1809, commencing practice in Abington. In 1824 he moved to East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1814; a state senator in 1819; and in 1820 was elected a representative in the 16th congress to fill a vacancy, taking his seat on December 18, 1820. He was re-elected to the 17th, 18th, & 19th congresses, serving from 1820-1827. He was a member of the governor's council, 1827-31, and a judge of probate, 1843-58. He is the author of Historical Sketches of Abington Mass. (1839). He died in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts on September 19, 1858 and was buried in Central Cemetery.

Hobart, Aaron, 1787-1858

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