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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.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 [Leaflet encouraging women to contribute their patriotic efforts to the Civil War as members of the United States Sanitary Commission]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00700 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Place Written: Washington, District of Columbia Type: Printed document Date: 1 October 1861 Pagination: 4 p. : Height: 25 cm, Width: 19.9 cm Order a Copy

Includes a statement issued by Frederick Law Olmstead, Secretary of the Commission, encouraging patriotic donations. Contains a letter from Lincoln stating that "The Sanitary Commission is doing a work of great humanity." Includes a statement issued by directors of the Commission (including Commission President Henry W. Bellows) to the women of America describing the organization as "a volunteer and unpaid bureau of the War Department of the government." Bellows encourages the formation of more benevolent societies in the United States created to collect items for military donation. Montgomery C. Meigs, Quartermaster General, requests the donation of woolen blankets for the military.

Bellows, Henry Whitney, 1814-1882
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Meigs, Montgomery C. (Montgomery Cunningham), 1816-1892
Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822-1903

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