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.

Stearns, Harrison (fl. 1868) to Mary Jane Ferris Stearns

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08945.02 Author/Creator: Stearns, Harrison (fl. 1868) Place Written: Oxford, Mississippi Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 14 January 1868 Pagination: 2 p. ; 24.7 x 19.3 cm. Order a Copy

Harrison, a freed slave, writes to Mary, the wife of his former master, William F. Stearns, to inform her that he received the deed for the gift of land William promised him (see GLC08945.01) and has had it recorded. Thanks her and indicates he will write to her in New York, where she is moving.

Harrison Stearns (fl. 1868) became an alderman and later gave a plot of the land he received for the Methodist Episcopal Church of Oxford. The Burns A.M.E. Church, founded in 1870, survives there today.
William F. Stearns (b. 1817?) was a law professor at Ole Miss born in Vermont. He committed suicide after the Civil War.

Stearns, Harrison, fl. 1868
Stearns, Mary Jane Ferris, 1833-?

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