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.

War Photograph & Exhibition Company On the battlefield at Gettysburg

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08685 Author/Creator: War Photograph & Exhibition Company Place Written: Hartford, Connecticut Type: Photograph Date: 1863 ; 1940s Pagination: 1 stereocard ; 10.2 x 17.7 cm. Order a Copy

A stereocard of the Patriot Publishing Company. Description of the photograph reads "A group of Union dead on the right of the federal lines on the first days' fight, July 1, 1863. These soldiers were killed by one discharge of "cannister" from a Rebel gun during a charge. "Cannister" is a tin can filled with small balls about the size of a marcle. When the cannon is fired the force of the discharge bursts open the can, and the shower of canniseter balls sweeps everything before it." This stereocard reproduced is the 1940s

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