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 Date range 1769

Letter, Anne Washington to John Augustine Washington, 1769 Box 3, Folder 1769.09.09

A.L.S. 3 pages. Has sent son George to see him, so he can see cruelty with which tutor treats the children--bad wound on his head--obliged if [Hannah B. Washington would send rosewater--wishes them joy of their young son--[Bestey ?] delivered of son--needs money to pay decree against estate--entitled to interest on payments being made to her. Autograph letter signed, laminated, watermark (figure holding aloft a liberty cap, lion rampant in enclosure with motto "Pro Patria"), bottom part of letter is missing.

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
  2. Historic manuscript collection, 1601/1933
  3. Series 1. Documents and Manuscripts
  4. Manuscripts Box 3, 1763/1771

Letter, John Augustine Washington to unknown recipient, 1769 Box 3, Folder 1769.02.12

A.L.S. 4 pages. "Dear Sir." Received receipt of acct. sales for past year--he has drawn on them for 3 sets of Exchange of £100 each--please send Miss Bushrod's invoice of goods soon for she is to be married and cannot set up house keeping without them--[paragraph blurred]--weather so cold and river frozen, so Capt. Johnstone slow in loading ship--make him insurance on 16 hhds. tobacco by Lord Camden in case of loss--[Added under date of 20 March 1769 in J.A.W.'s hand is] "Invoice of all goods to be sent by the first ship into Rapahannock or Potomack for J. A. Washington," with list of things desired. On reverse is same list with prices added. Autograph letter signed, laminated, docketed "Copy of my Le[tter] and [invoice ?] [ ] Feb. 1769", watermark (crown over encircled heraldic device and motto). Name on original manuscript appears as "J. A. Washington".

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
  2. Historic manuscript collection, 1601/1933
  3. Series 1. Documents and Manuscripts
  4. Manuscripts Box 3, 1763/1771

Letter, to George Mason, 1769 Box 1, Folder 1769.04.21

George Washington's land agreement with George Mason, dated April 21, 1769. George Mason lived at Gunston Hall, which is located just below Mount Vernon on the Potomac River in Fairfax County. Surveys inherited in Washington's day were often inaccurate and this land agreement settled a long-standing dispute concerning the boundary line that divided Mount Vernon from Mason's property. This folio incorporates both a legal contract and the elements of a survey that Washington himself undertook in 1769 to settle the inaccurate western boundary of the lands between Dogue Creek and Little Hunting Creek. The one page document is written in a clerical hand and is endorsed with George Washington's signature.

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
  2. George Washington collection, 1654/1799
  3. Series 1. From George Washington, 1654/1799

Letter, to Jonathan Boucher, 1769 Box 1, Folder 1769.04.24

A caring and involved father, George Washington wrote this letter to his stepson's tutor, the Reverend Jonathan Boucher. In it he instructs his ward's tutor to enroll John Parke Custis with a particular dancing master. Written from Mount Vernon on April 24, 1769, Washington states, "In respect to the Dancing Gentry, I am glad to find you have such choice of them, …Newman...I have heard him well spoken of as a teacher in that Science… you will be so good therefore Sir to enter Mastr Custis with Mr. Newman for a year or otherwise, as he may form his School."

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
  2. George Washington collection, 1654/1799
  3. Series 1. From George Washington, 1654/1799

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