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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, Mary Todd, 1818-1882 to A. D. Worthington

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00782.15 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Mary Todd, 1818-1882 Place Written: Chicago, Illinois Type: Autograph letter signed Date: March 7, 1868 Pagination: 4 p. : envelope Height: 17 cm, Width: 12 cm Order a Copy

Mary Todd Lincoln refuses a request to help with a biography of her husband, Abraham Lincoln, citing poor health and the many false accounts already written about him. "So many pretentious persons, who were quite strangers to my husband & our household ... all claiming such intimate knowledge of the lamented President that I have been frequently startled with their varied & inaccurate accounts." She goes on to express that, "It will be impossible for me ... to subject myself to the annoyance of public clamor." She asks that their correspondence be kept private. Letter marked private on envelope and top of first page, and addressed to Worthington in Hartford, Connecticut.

Lincoln, Mary Todd, 1818-1882
Worthington, A. D., fl. 1868
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

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