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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.

Hale, Aurelia (ca. b. 1798) to Sarah W. Hale

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08934.014 Author/Creator: Hale, Aurelia (ca. b. 1798) Place Written: Washington, GA Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 25 July 1824 Pagination: 4 p. : address : 20.8 x 25.6 cm. Order a Copy

In this, she apologizes for not answering her sister's letters in months, but says that she had "indispensable engagements" which kept her too occupied to find the time. It is unclear exactly what Sarah wrote in her letters, but Aurelia references what appear to have been multiple mentions by Sarah in them of "indifferent" health, and expresses concern for her sister. She also spends a large portion of the letter talking about God, death, and the afterlife, including "I have not been able to judge from the tense of your letters whether you are serving God, or like myself still continuing in the ways of sin and folly." She also states that she does not identify as a Christian. The third page is crosswritten.

Aurelia Hale was born in Glastonbury, in Hartford, Connecticut sometime before 20 December 1798.

Hale, Aurelia, 1798-?
Hale, Sarah, 1801-?

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