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.

Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin) (1818-1893) to Dorothea Dix

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08370.01 Author/Creator: Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin) (1818-1893) Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 14 October 1864 Pagination: Order a Copy

"Will Miss Dix give Gen. Butler any good reason why Mrs. Lottie Galt & other harmless old ladies of Williamsburg should not be loyal women & take the oath of allegiance in return for protection for the United States. A Rebel is never harmless."

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