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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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circa 1878

Norton, Joshua Abraham, 1819-1880

Header Record

Title: [Two items relating to Joshua Abraham Norton, self-proclaimed emperor of the United States] [Decimalized]

Joshua Norton was an Englishman who came to America during the California Gold Rush of 1849 and proclaimed himself emperor of the United States. Mark Twain is said to have modeled the character of Huck Finn on Norton.

GLC02729

1878/02/18

Norton, Joshua Abraham, 1819-1880

Document signed

Title: [Fifty-cent interest-bearing note from the Imperial Government of Norton I]

Signed by Joshua Abraham Norton as Norton I, self-proclaimed emperor of the United States. Check number 2510. On verso, affixed note reads "Yours Truly A.J. Bryant Mayor, San Francisco. Oct. 22nd, '78."

GLC02729.02

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