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.

McNear, Franklin E. (fl. 1855-1886) Collection of autographs, quotations, and letters.

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04035.02 Author/Creator: McNear, Franklin E. (fl. 1855-1886) Place Written: s.l. Type: Book Date: 1855-1886 Pagination: 1 v. : 83 p. ; 20.1 x 13.5 cm. Order a Copy

Consists of eighty-four signatures, most of which were obtained by McNear between 1860 and 1861. Incorporating numerous historical figures, the book includes autographs from (among others) Horace Greeley, James Buchanan, William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Ward Beecher, and Frederick Douglass. 83 pages contain signatures, and page numbers are written in pencil in the bottom right corner of each page. The book contains several autograph letters by various correspondents, including Hannibal Hamlin (p. 13); William H. Seward (p. 89); and P.T. Barnum (p. 137), as well as the clipped signature and seal from an Andrew Johnson document (p. 169). Signed McNear 20 August 1860. Signatures obtained from various locations.

McNear, Franklin E., fl. 1855-1886
Hamlin, Hannibal, 1809-1891
Everett, Edward, 1794-1865
Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872
Winthrop, Robert Charles, 1809-1894
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882
Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

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