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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.

Wormeley, Katherine P. (fl. 1863) The United States Sanitary Commission: A Sketch of its purposes and work

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06820 Author/Creator: Wormeley, Katherine P. (fl. 1863) Place Written: Boston Type: Book Date: 1863 Pagination: 229 p. 18.4 x 12.6 cm Order a Copy

First edition published by Little Brown. Inscribed in pencil on the titlepage by S. W. Bridgham to "Mrs. Ives." Wormeley was a prominent organizer of women's aid societies in New England during the Civil War. She also served on U.S. Sanitary Commission hospital ships along the Virginia peninsula. She became "Lady Superintendent" of the Lowell General Hospital in September 1862, but poor health forced her to give up the position. She wrote this book in order to raise money for the Boston Sanitary Fair. The work describes the Commissions' evolution and relief efforts. Wormeley gives statistics on supplies provided and eyewitness accounts of their use among soldiers.

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