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.

Portraits of circus performers

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02912.02.02 Author/Creator: Place Written: Various Places Type: Header Record Date: 1870s Pagination: 6 photos Height: 16.6 cm, Width: 10.8 cm Order a Copy

Portrait subjects include Capt. Jack Bassett, Major and Mrs. Ray (ca. 1891), Miss Millie La Mar, Lalloo, and Prince Nicholi ("The Little Russian Prince"). Photographers include Wendt of Boonton, N.J.; Obermuller and Kern of New York; and Eisenmann, also of New York. Previously identified as photographs of "circus freaks."

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