Historical Documents

Documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 70,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World to soldiers’ letters from World War II and Vietnam. Explore primary sources relating to immigration history below. For more Gilder Lehrman Collection documents, search the online catalog.