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.

Henderson, W.S. (fl. 1878-) to Blanche Kelso Bruce

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09400.340 Author/Creator: Henderson, W.S. (fl. 1878-) Place Written: Haudsboro, MS Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 2 February 1878 Pagination: 2 p. ; 14.5 x 22.3 cm. Order a Copy

now that he has accepted the position of collector of customs, he waiting the arrival of the oath. requests that Bruce speed things up so he can begin as possible.

Blanche Kelso Bruce was born into slavery near Farmville, Prince Edward County, Va. on March 1 1841. He was tutored by his master's son, but left his master at the beginning of the civil war and taught school in Hannibal Mo. After the civil war Bruce became a planter in Mississippi, and a member of the Mississippi Levee Board, and Sheriff and Tax Collector for Bolivar County from 1872-1875. Bruce was then elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, where he served from March 4 1875 - March 3 1881. Bruce was the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. In 1881 Bruce was appointed by President James Garfield as the Register of the Treasury. Bruce then went on to serve as the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Colombia from 1891-1893, returning to the office of Register of the Treasury from 1897 until his death on March 17, 1898.

Bruce, Blanche Kelso, 1841-1898
Junkerman, Julius, fl. 1877

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