Our Collection

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.

Toynbee, Arnold, fl. 1948 [Excerpt from p. 15 of "Civilization on Trial"]

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05508.247 Author/Creator: Toynbee, Arnold, fl. 1948 Place Written: s.l. Type: Typed quotation signed Date: circa 1948 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 9.1 cm, Width: 13.8 cm Order a Copy

Discusses the possibility of a divine plan behind the rise and fall of civilizations and speculates that the means of progress in the plan is the learning caused by suffering due to civilization's failures. He cites, for example, Abraham as "an emigre from a civilization in extremis," and wonders what spiritual enlightenment might emerge from the trials of the "displaced persons" in our time.

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources