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.

Washington, Booker T. (1856-1915) The Future of the American Negro

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04297.01 Author/Creator: Washington, Booker T. (1856-1915) Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Book signed Date: 1 March 1900 Pagination: 1 v. : 244 p. : ill. ; 19.5 x 12.5 cm. Order a Copy

Published by Small, Maynard & Company in 1899. Inscribed in 1900 on the inner front cover to Almira Thornton Goff, wife of Lyman B. Goff, an active Republican and head of the Union Wadding Company of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Includes a photograph of Washington opposite the title page. Contents explore African-American history, history of the Tuskegee Institute (of which Washington was President), and the difficulty of racial integration, among other topics. Provides his theories on the importance of African-American education: believes that "thorough academic and religious training [should] go side by side with industrial training. Mere training of the hand without the culture of brain and heart would mean little." Contained an inserted leaflet (refer to GLC04297.02).

Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915
Goff, Lyman B., 1841-1927
Thornton, Almira, 1842-1921

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