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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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Lincoln's Surveying Instruments [stereocard]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05111.01.0803 Author/Creator: Place Written: Springfield, Illinois Type: Photograph Date: circa 1861-1865 Pagination: 1 stereocard Height: 8.6 cm, Width: 17.8 cm Order a Copy

The compass, chain, saddle bags and "Jacob's Staff" used by Abraham Lincoln as a deputy land surveyor in Sangamon County from 1833-36. Inscription on verso: "Frank H. Hamilton. 700 South 7th Street Springfield Illinois." Additional inscription on verso: "1932 Presented [?] by Annie Hamilton." Photographed by Richards and Pittman, North Side Square, Springfield, Illinois.

Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877
President
Surveying
The American Civil War

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