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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.

Potter, J. Sturgis, fl. 1861 to Governor Francis W. Pickens

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09199 Author/Creator: Potter, J. Sturgis, fl. 1861 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 30 March 1861 Pagination: 4 p. : Order a Copy

A Boston entrepreneur suggests that machinery for knitting hosiery be adapted to cotton thread. "All of the labor except a man to manage the carding machines, could be better done by female slaves than any other. There is a cotton factory in your state that can at once be turned a very profitable account by introducing this machinery."

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