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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.

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870 to Sidney Smith Lee

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09257 Author/Creator: Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 30 June 1848 Pagination: 4 p. : Order a Copy

Having returned from service in the Mexican War just a day before, Lee writes to his brother Sidney Smith Lee of his homecoming and other family news. "Here I am once again, my dear Smith, perfectly surrounded by this Mama & her precious children, who seem to devote themselves to staring at the furrows in my face and the white hairs in my head. It is not surprising that I am hardly recognizable to the young eyes around me perfectly unknown to the youngest. But some of the older ones gaze with astonishment & wonder & seem at a loss to reconcile what they see , to what was pictured in their imaginations - I find them too much grown & all well, & I have much cause for thankfulness & gratitude to that Good God, who has once more united us."

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870

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