Search | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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.

Start New Search

87506 search results

Filter:

Only return results with full-sized images

Sort by

Advanced search

Keyword

Author

Subjects

Place written

Year

Sub-era

15 April 1865

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Ulysses S. Grant & E.M. Stanton

Writes to General Grant and Secretary of War Stanton to report on his correspondence with General Johnston to arrange terms of surrender at Durham Station, North Carolina. He writes that he will accept the same terms that Grant gave Lee at Appomattox, "and be careful not to complicate any points of civil authority." Sherman also reports meeting with ex-North Carolina Governor William A. Graham, John Moore, William W. Holden, and a Mr. Badger, who all "agree that the war is over." Copies of two pieces of correspondence with Johnston are attached. The first letter is from Johnston and dated…

GLC04545.01

11 November 1886

Hamlin, Hannibal, 1809-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Madam

Informs an unknown woman of the members of Lincoln's cabinet, noting who has died and where the remaining men are now living. Mentions William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Caleb B. Smith, Simon Cameron, Gideon Welles, and Montgomery Blair.

GLC05603.01.12

7 August 1855

Raymond, Henry J. (Henry Jarvis), 1820-1869

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Directed to "Gentlemen." Agrees to deliver a lecture on slavery during the upcoming winter, noting, "I shall fail to say anything possessing either novelty or merit upon a topic which has been more profoundly and carefully discussed in Boston than in any other part of the Country." Will speak December 20. Includes an incomplete newspaper clipping attached to verso. The clipping contains Horace Greeley's praise of Raymond (Raymond initially served as Greeley's assistant, before starting the Times).

GLC05603.01.25

1861-1865

Brooks, Noah, 1830-1903

Autograph letter signed

Title: [Remark about Abraham Lincoln's wisdom]

Writes "When asked what trait of Abraham Lincoln's character most impressed me in the years of my intercourse with him, I reply - his wisdom. He was the wisest man I ever knew."

GLC05603.01.30

20 September 1852

Weed, Thurlow, 1797-1882

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Horace Greeley

Weed, a journalist active in politics, writes to Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune. Comments that Henry Wilson "ought to be at the Free Soil State Convention," to be held in Syracuse, New York.

GLC05603.01.33

1865/04/14

Newspaper clipping

Title: Abraham Lincoln [Poem]

Clipping of the poem "Abraham Lincoln."

GLC05603.03.01

1861-1865

Newspaper clipping

Title: "Old John" Burns

News article about John Burns, "the old hero of Gettysburg." Includes an engraving of John Burns pasted over the image of Burns' statue. Article and images are pasted on a piece of paper.

GLC05603.03.03

1925 circa

Tanner, James, 1844-1927

Newspaper clipping

Title: "At the deathbed of Abraham Lincoln"

One article entitled, "At the Deathbed of Abraham Lincoln," written by James Tanner and printed by the National Republic. Consists of an eye witness account related to Lincoln's assassination and his deathbed. Relays the chaos at the scene at Ford's Theater. Tanner's assistance was requested by General Christopher C. Augur who needed someone capable of writing in shorthand to record statements of people present in the theater. Also details Mary Todd Lincoln's audible distress in the room near where Tanner was recording testimonies. Included in the printing are two articles entitled, "What…

GLC05603.03.04

1863

Manuscript

Title: A Few Scenes in the life of A "SOJER" in the Mass 44th

Illustrated Civil War diary by a soldier in the 44th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Written from camp at New Bern, North Carolina. Sketchbook illustrated with thirty-eight pencil editorial-type cartoon sketches satirizing the Northern press, former slaves, Confederate General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and military life. Most sketches follow the life of a soldier named "Gorge," or "George," possibly a fictional character, possibly loosely autobiographical. Some sketches are about the Battle of Goldsboro. Page near the end states that the author had to end the sketchbook due to a lack of…

GLC08200

26 July 1876

Hayes, Rutherford B., 1822-1893

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Expresses his belief that reconstruction would not end if a short term Democrat is elected to the presidency, but that it would be disastrous for the Freedmen. Rutherford B. Hayes served as President 1877-1881.

GLC08201

28 November 1778

Sackville, George Germain, Viscount, 1716-1785

Autograph letter signed

Title: [to the King's Commissioners]

Responding to a memorial petition from the merchants of South Carolina and Georgia and contemplating a British attack on Georgia. Asks the king's (King George III) commissioners to use their judgment on how much of the memorial to comply with. Marked "duplicate" and "separate" on upper right hand corner of first page and docket. Sackville, 1st Viscount Sackville, was a British soldier and politician who was Secretary of State for America in Lord North's cabinet during the American Revolution.

GLC08202

26 November 1833

Garcia, Carlos, fl. 1833

Broadside

Title: [Official notification of Santa Ana's Secularization Act]

Broadside in Spanish. Official notice that Catholic Church property has been given over to private petitioners.

GLC08204

04 March 1841

Harrison, William Henry, 1773-1841

Broadside

Title: [National Intelligencer Extra]

Printed presidential inauguration address of William Henry Harrison.

GLC08205

September 1785

Paine, Robert T., 1731-1814

Document signed

Title: [Indictment of Joseph Harris as a counterfeiter]

Countersigned by Nathan Rowley. Charging Harris with defrauding and injuring the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in May 1785 by making 800 pieces of counterfeit money in mixed metals. Paine was Attorney General of Massachusetts 1777-1796.

GLC08206

09 April 1862

Atkins, James, fl. 1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his father

Written from the U.S. Steam Sloop Brooklyn, Head of the Passes Mississippi River. Describes the Union naval preparations prior to the assault on New Orleans, with particular attention to the mortar fleet of David Dixon Porter. Discusses in depth the various ships in the fleet, the Hartford, Richmond, Pensacola, Mississippi, Iroquois, and Oneida, among others and the equipment on each. Comments on the prize money from an expedition involving the Magnolia, and states the crew from the South Carolina might now unjustly receive it instead of the crew of the Brooklyn. Mentions the weather and…

GLC08207

14 August 1789

Newspaper

Title: Connecticut gazette. [Vol. 26, no. 1344 (August 14, 1789)]

With proposed draft of twelve amendments to the United States Constitution.

GLC08208

August 1860

C. E. Cate & Co.

Printed document

Title: [Advertisement for clothing for slaves from New Orleans, Louisiana]

Circular advertises slave shoes and hats by type, virtues, and price aimed at plantation owners who would have to clothe many slaves for reasonable prices. This company specialized in clothing products for slaves. The circular was published a few months prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Since New Orleans was in Union hands by mid 1862, this brochure is very rare.

GLC08210