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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.

Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852 to Harriette Story Paige

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01946.35 Author/Creator: Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852 Place Written: Richmond, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 29 April 1847 Pagination: 4p. : Height: 24.6 cm, Width: 20.7 cm Order a Copy

On a tour through the southern states, Webster writes to his sister-in-law Paige, stating that Richmond, Virginia has a "pleasant beat." Poetically describes morning as a "new image of light, a new breaking forth of the sun, a new waking up of all that has life, from a sort of temporary death, to behold, again the works of God, the Heavens & the Earth." Reports that he had left Washington the previous day with his wife Caroline LeRoy Webster, William Seaton (Webster's friend and co-owner of the congressional paper The National Intelligencer), Josephine Seaton (William's daughter), and other acquaintances Mary Scott and Mr. Schroeder. States that New York Representative Edward Curtis jumped aboard at the last minute.

Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852
Paige, Harriette Story, 1806-1863
Curtis, Edward, 1801-1856
Webster, Caroline LeRoy, 1797-1882
Seaton, William Winston, 1785-1866

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