Our Collection

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.

Butler, Pierce, 1744-1822 to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.05148 Author/Creator: Butler, Pierce, 1744-1822 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 9 September 1791 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 24.3 cm, Width: 19.3 cm Order a Copy

Asks Knox's pardon "for the intrusion of a letter on business yesterday morning - I had not heard 'till late in the afternoon of your House being a House of Mourning, or I shou[l]d never have broke in on you at such a season." This is in reference to the death of Knox's son Marcus (see GLC02437.05152 and .05162). Sends his sympathies. Tells Knox that "true indeed is the observation of the Poet that We are all Pensioners on the bounty of an hour. Such are the terms on which He who Wills all things gave us life; and we must submit."

Signer of the U.S. Constitution.

Butler, Pierce, 1744-1822
Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

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