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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.

Friedrick, Wartmann (fl. 1863) to Sarah Ogden

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06559.114 Author/Creator: Friedrick, Wartmann (fl. 1863) Place Written: Ixonia, Wisconsin Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 10 September 1863 Pagination: 3 p. : envelope ; 26 x 21 cm. Order a Copy

Thanks Ogden for sending his son's personal belongings to Wisconsin, and for promising to return his body. Mentions that families making this request usually do not receive the correct body. States, "we place every confidence in you, Madame! That you will certainly be informed and know which the grave of my son is, that our mind may not be grieved more by deception." Enclosed thirty dollars in the letter (not included), for the purchase of an air-tight coffin. In a postscript, asks that she responds to his letter upon its arrival.

Sarah Perot Ogden was a Quaker from Philadelphia who took part in variety of philanthropic works such as assisting the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. She was a member of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America, the Philadelphia Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, and President of the Philadelphia Home for Incurables. Both Ogden and her husband, Edward H. Ogden, were strong supporters of the Union cause. During the Civil War Ogden volunteered in a military hospital where she made daily visits. Her husband served as a Union soldier.

Ogden, Sarah Morris Perot, 1831-1912

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