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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.

Curti, Merle, fl. 1966 to Marshall E. Bean

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05508.078.01 Author/Creator: Curti, Merle, fl. 1966 Place Written: Madison, Wisconsin Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 20 September 1966 Pagination: 2 p. : Order a Copy

Curti responds to a letter from Bean, who, facing his own death, asked Curti about his faith. Curti responds that Bean's life in teaching and religious faith ought to provide him with confidence in the value of his life. Regarding his own faith, Curti offers the concluding remarks of an address he gave at Columbia University years earlier that discusses increasing knowledge of human nature and social behavior, and the American tradition of ethical idealism, which he expresses in religious terms. The first two paragraphs of the letter are hand written, the rest is typed.

Curti, Merle, fl. 1966

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