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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.

Diamond, Sidney, 1922-1945 to Estelle Spero

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09120.533 Author/Creator: Diamond, Sidney, 1922-1945 Place Written: South Pacific Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1 November 1944 Pagination: 6 p. ; 21.5 x 28 cm. Order a Copy

Diamond describes his day of departure, which is still "so clear" in his mind, despite the seventeen months that have passed: "There was a peculiar sensation that all this wasn't new - that our ancestors somewhere had experienced the same tightening around the stomach." He then writes about "Johnny Martin", a "nice kid" who had been killed. Sidney ends by apologizing for "this morbid nonsense", explaining that "sometimes the loneliness overwhelms" him. Written on an unknown island in the South Pacific

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