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.

[Journal of the U.S.S. Portsmouth of the African Squadron, U.S. Navy]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09362 Author/Creator: Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph manuscript signed Date: 1850-1851 Pagination: Order a Copy

Journal of the U.S.S. Portsmouth of the African Squadron, U.S. Navy, organized to protect legitimate American trading activity in western Africa, as well as to suppress "the Slave trade, so far as the Citizens of Flag of the U.S. may be found engaged therein." Includes a letter to the commander of the U.S.S. Dale, sending a copy of the treaty with Britain that authorized the anti-slave trade patrols, and the following order: "Should you meet any of the British Cruisers engaged in the suppression of the Slave trade, you are to communicate freely with them on this service, and whenever it can be done, within the scope of your instructions--cooperate with them for that special Object, always preserving an equal, and independent position." Also includes retained copies of letters and orders issued by Commodore Gregory, among them attempts to assist the victims of the shipwreck of a commercial ship and to ransom Americans held by Arabs; the salvaging operations on the Yorktown; and a brief report on the ill effects of the climate on sailors.

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