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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.

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.06430 Author/Creator: Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 Place Written: Charlottesville, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1 June 1795 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 22.2 x 18.5 cm. Order a Copy

Discusses the new technology for a mill and includes a small diagram on the first page on the left side. Also writes about the joys of an agricultural life, asking Knox, "have you become a farmer? is it not pleasanter than to be shut up within 4. walls and delving eternally with the pen? I am become the most ardent farmer in the state. I live on my horse from morning to night almost. intervals are filled up with attentions to a nailery I carry on. I rarely look into a book, and more rarely take up a pen. I have proscribed newspapers, not taking a single one, nor scarcely ever looking into one. my next reformation will be to allow neither pen, ink, nor paper to be kept on the farm. When I have accomplished this I shall be in a fair way of indemnifying myself for the drudgery in which I have passed my life. if you are half as much delighted with the farm as I am, you bless your stars at your riddance from public cares." Written at Monticello, Jefferson's home. Docketed by Knox.

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

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