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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.

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 to Pierre C. L'Enfant

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC07669 Author/Creator: Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: January 15, 1792 Pagination: 1 p. : docket Height: 23.4 cm, Width: 19.7 cm Order a Copy

Requests a meeting to go over some papers Jefferson received from President Washington, so that the relationship between the commissioners superintending the building of Washington, D.C. and L'Enfant could be "entirely understood." L'Enfant designed the city of Washington. At the time of this meeting he was experiencing a falling out with the commissioners, and was dismissed from the project following month.

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
L'Enfant, Pierre Charles, 1754-1825

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