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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.

[Aetna United States Mail Secret Protectors]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06452.05.06 Author/Creator: Place Written: s.l. Type: Ephemera Date: circa 1864 Pagination: 1 p. : docket Height: 19.1 cm, Width: 12 cm Order a Copy

Cryptic document docketed with the initials of Aetna United States Mail Secret Protectors, described as a "banded organization." States, "This paper, being an exposure of the designs of rebel refugees from the South, banded for plunder and murder in the North, is placed in your hands for your protection in case of attack. Should they know of your or my possession of such information, the consequences might be fatal."

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