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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.

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 to Ms Parker

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09074 Author/Creator: Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 9 April 1773 Pagination: 2 p. : Order a Copy

Responds to a complaint from the daughter of his recently deceased business partner, James Parker: "Desiring nothing but what is just, shall be more pleas'd to find little due to me than much...I think it contributes to the Duration of Friendship, to keep its Accounts, & those of Business, distinct & separate; and that as exact Justice in Pounds Shillings & Pence should be observed between Friends as between Strangers. I always intended making Mr Parker an Allowance for the Time he spent and the trouble he took in settling my Accounts with Mr Hall [Franklin's partner] after I left America..." Written while a Colonial Agent in London.

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790

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