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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.

Abbot, Charles Greely, 1872-1973 to "Our Heroes Class," First Methodist Church

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05508.014 Author/Creator: Abbot, Charles Greely, 1872-1973 Place Written: Washington, District of Columbia Type: Typed letter signed Date: 8 November 1928 Pagination: 2 p. : Height: 26.6 cm, Width: 20.2 cm Order a Copy

Writing to a Sunday school class, Abbot, an Astrophysicist and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, recounts an anecdote from his childhood in which a cobbler told him "the Kingdom of Heaven is within you." Abbot explains that Heaven is within you when you follow a "philosophy of happy life." This philosophy is characterized by study of the classics of human culture--such as the Bible, literature, music, and great paintings.

Abbot, Charles Greely, 1872-1973

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