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 1819

Historic manuscript collection, 1601/1933 approx. 60 Linear Feet

This collection of historic manuscripts dates from 1607-1933, with the bulk of materials dating from 1738-1868. The correspondence, journals and diaries, legal and financial records, estate documents, and printed ephemera in the collection primarily relate to the Washington and Custis families, the Revolutionary War, and society life in antebellum Washington D.C. and Virginia.

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon

John Augustine Washington Farm Book, 1814/1846 1 Volumes Box 106, Shelf Closed Stacks

This manuscript is made up of several sections. Approximately the first 100 pages include inventories of the Mount Vernon estate's contents (silver, dishes, beds, linens, and so on). That set of inventories was begun during Bushrod Washington's tenure as owner of Mount Vernon. Much of the text appears to be in his handwriting. The middle 200 pages are made up of the manuscript contain the daily diary of John A. Washington III for the years 1842-1845, while he owned Mount Vernon. The final 50 or so pages contain John A. Washington's record of work done by various individuals on the Mount Vernon property for several months at the end of 1842 to the beginning of 1843; a variety of other miscellaneous records and accounts are included in these final pages, all of which appear "upside down" in relation to the inventories and diary because they were written with the blank book flipped over so that the original back cover became the front cover. The inventories include two lists of slaves: one is dated 20 July 1815 (during the Bushrod Washington years); and the other with birthdates to April 1845 (during the John A. Washington III years).

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
  2. Historic manuscript collection, 1601/1933
  3. Series 2. Ledgers and Bound Manuscripts

John Augustine Washington III and family papers, 1789/1994 approx 4 Linear Feet 15 boxes

Alexander, Hannah Lee Washington, 1811-1881

This collection contains correspondence, legal documents, financial records, and other documents related to John Augustine Washington III and his family, especially his son, Lawrence, as well as his granddaughters, Anne and Patty. The bulk of the correspondence series are letters sent to John Augustine Washington III and concern family affairs and the management of various family plantations, including Mount Vernon.

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon

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