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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.

Rhett, James M., fl. 1863 [Receipt for sale of slaves]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09380.2 Author/Creator: Rhett, James M., fl. 1863 Place Written: Columbia, South Carolina Type: Printed document signed Date: 2 March 1863 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 12.5 cm, Width: 22.6 cm Order a Copy

With: PDS, 3-2-1863, receipt printed specifically for use in slave sales: "Received from Charles H. Rhett Seven thousand two hundred & fifty Dollars… for the purchase of Seven Negro Slaves named Caesar, Catherine, Flora, Ben, Stepney, Dora & Sue." Pinned to this is the original newspaper advertisement of the estate sale: "will be sold, at the Court House in Columbia…A prime gang of 26 Negroes, accustomed to the culture of cotton, corn and provisions generally. There are among them Cooks, Washers and Ironers and House Servants, the property of … Wm. S. Chaplin, deceased." Signed by estate administrator William A. Chisolm.

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