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.

Van de Vinter, Christopher, fl. 1813 to James Winchester

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06997.036 Author/Creator: Van de Vinter, Christopher, fl. 1813 Place Written: Quebec, Canada Type: Autograph letter signed Date: December 21, 1813 Pagination: 2 p. : Height: 20 cm, Width: 12.5 cm Order a Copy

Plea for assistance. Van De Vinter hopes that Winchester may be able to effect "some mitigation of the rigor with which… [he is] bound." Along with Captain Roach and Lt. Smith, Van De Vinter has been held in solitary confinement. He is unwilling to believe that this treatment could be "intended as a punishment for our justifiable attempt to regain our freedom."

Winchester, James, 1752-1826

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