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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.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 to Gideon Welles

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04649 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Place Written: Washington, District of Columbia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 21 May 1861 Pagination: 1 p. : docket Height: 20.5 cm, Width: 13.2 cm Order a Copy

Writes to Secretary of the Navy Welles to endorse Walter Trumbull, the son of Illinois Senator Trumbull. Asks that the young man be given an interview for admission to the Naval Academy.

Basler, Roy P. The Collected Works Of Abraham Lincoln. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), Vol. IV 1860 - 1861,
p. 381

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

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