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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.

Randall, Thomas, ?-1811 to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.04241 Author/Creator: Randall, Thomas, ?-1811 Place Written: Mumbai, India Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 14 June 1789 Pagination: 3 p. : docket ; Height: 31 cm, Width: 19.5 cm Order a Copy

Written from Bombay, present-day Mumbai, India. Declares that he will be on his way to America before Knox reads this letter. Mentions he had arrived in Bombay ten days earlier, after an excruciating five-month-long journey from Batavia. After this he will sail for China. Mentions that his friend Mr. [Samuel] Shaw has long since arrived in America and will have told Knox about how Randall is doing. Describes a crewmember he had to suspend because his "pride and ignorance has rendered him so intolerable, as to make him quarrell [sic] with every officer on board." As he is uncertain whether this letter will successfully arrive to Knox, he is not planning to write to all of his friends and acquaintances. In lieu of that, he asks Knox to mention to Colonel [likely Richard] Platt and Colonel [likely William] Duer that he has been unable to sell their land, and also sends his regards to Mrs. Knox and to the family of Mr. [Isaac] Sears.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Randall, Thomas, ?-1811
Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794
Platt, Richard, 1755-1830
Duer, William, 1747-1799
Sears, Isaac, 1730-1786
Knox, Lucy Flucker, 1756-1824

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