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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.

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23 September 1897

Hunt, William Holman, fl. 1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to J. Carlton Still

Hunt writes in response to a question about Jesus' racial identity. Hunt says that for painters, even if the traditional ideal of Jesus with blue/grey eyes and red/brown hair isn't truest, it is still best. However, he does believe the traditional ideal is truest, because it has Jewish traits similar to Jesus' ancestor, David. He also believes that a "dark person" could not possess Jesus' "inflexible and steady courage...in such transcendent degree." He describes the forged letter of Lentulus as ignorant, vulgar, and wrong.

GLC05508.141

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