Collections : [The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon]

The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon

The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
3600 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway
Mount Vernon, VA 22121
Primary Collecting Areas:
George and Martha Washington, Mount Vernon, Founding Era and Early Republic, Historic preservation, Decorative arts, Mount Vernon Ladies' Association
Description:

The Fred W. Smith National Library includes general collections, special collections and archives as a resource for scholars, students, and those interested in George Washington, colonial America and the Revolutionary and founding eras.

The library's general collections include secondary source materials on the Washington and Custis families, and the colonial and founding eras.

The Special Collections materials highlight the lives of George and Martha Washington as well as their descendants through correspondence, financial materials, and original books from George and Martha Washington's library.

The archives of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association holds the historic institutional records of the organization dating back to its founding in 1853.

POC: Reference services
Phone: (703) 780-3600
Start Over Repository The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon Subjects Maps (documents)

A map of the most inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole province of Maryland with part of Pensilvania, New Jersey and North Carolina 1 Sheets Drawer 122 : L : 2, Section 1, Folder OUT

Map of Virginia and Maryland based on surveys by Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, accurately delineating boundaries, roads, settlements, and Native American trails, and incorporating considerable new geographical information. It was issued in 1775 for inclusion in Thomas Jeffery's 'American Atlas'.

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
  2. Ted and Mary Wendell early American collection
  3. Series 3. Oversize

A map of the north west parts of the United States of America 1 Sheets Closed Stacks, Drawer 33

This rare and unique map was produced by inventor and amateur mapmaker John Fitch, in an attempt to raise funds to support his newly invented steamboat. Fitch made and engraved the map himself, and printed it in Philadelphia on a cider press. Unfortunately for Fitch, the map never sold well, and the geography displayed on the map was well out-of-date by the time the Old Northwest was settled after being released from British and Native American control.

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
  2. Richard H. Brown Revolutionary War Map Collection

A map of the western parts of the colony of Virginia 1 Sheets Box 2, Folder 1754

This map was engraved by John Gibson and published in The London Magazine or Gentleman's Intelligencer, vol. 23 (June, 1754). It depicts the region from Lake Ontario southwest to the New River, and shows forts, trails, waterfalls, and general locations of Native American tribe settlements.

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
  2. Ted and Mary Wendell early American collection
  3. Series 2. Publications

Americæ pars, nunc Virginia dicta : primum ab Anglis inuenta, sumtibus Dn. Walteri Raleigh, Equestris ordinis Viri, Anno Dn̄i. MDLXXXV regni Vero Sereniss. nostræ Reginæ Elisabethæ XXVII, hujus vero Historia peculiari Libro descripta est, additis etiam Indigenarum Iconibus 1 Sheets Drawer 122 : L : 4, Section 3

"Theodore De Bry's engraving of John White's manuscript map was the first finely-detailed view of a North American landscape. It depicts English claims to "Virginia," which at the time encompassed both modern Virginia and North Carolina. Created in the wake of the failed English settlement at Roanoke Island, De Bry's color engraving visualizes English understanding of indigenous political communities such as the Secotan, Chawanook, and Weapemeoc peoples. At right, the ships heading into the Chesapeake Bay suggest future pathways for settlement and commerce." -- Mapping the "New World": Highlights from the Paul Schott Stevens Collection

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
  2. Paul Stevens map collection

Content Warning

ARVAS is an aggregator of archival resources. ARVAS does not have control of the descriptive language used in our members’ finding aids.

Finding aids may contain historical terms and phrases, reflecting the shared attitudes and values of the community from which they were collected, but are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical or mental ability; religion; sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Many institutions and organizations are in the process of reviewing and revising their descriptive language, with the intent to describe materials in more humanizing, inclusive, and harm-reductive ways. As members revise their descriptive language, their changes will eventually be reflected in their ARVAS finding aids.