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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.

Rifenburgh, Peter E., 1843-1863 to Brother

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08914.024 Author/Creator: Rifenburgh, Peter E., 1843-1863 Place Written: Jefferson Parish, Louisiana Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 5 May 1863 Pagination: 2 p. : Height: 20.7 cm, Width: 13.1 cm Order a Copy

Glad to have received his letter; hopes this letter will find him in good health. Will send a copy of the New Orleans newspaper. Sent his likeness in a photograph and an ambrotype a week ago. Lewis Brooks had gotten a letter from [Mag] saying that he (Rifenburgh's brother) had been complaining about having not received a letter in a while. Now thinks the war will last a long time: "I don't think that this war is going to end in three months or12 months." "Hot as hell" at the camp, but is able to stand the heat. Written at Camp Parapet.

Rifenburgh, Peter E., 1843-1863
Brooks, Louis, fl. 1862-1876

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