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Sender: American Memory Fellows <AMFELLOWS@SUN8.LOC.GOV>
Poster: gailhd <gailhd@JPS.NET>
Subject: Re: Additional of George Washington Diaries to the American
Memoryonline
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Elizabeth,
I can't wait to work with this collection, Gail Desler
"Elizabeth L. Brown" wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Memory Fellows <AMFELLOWS@SUN8.LOC.GOV>
> Poster: "Elizabeth L. Brown" <ebro@LOC.GOV>
> Subject: Additional of George Washington Diaries to the American Memory
> online
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This announcement is being sent to a number of lists. Please accept our
> apologies for any duplicate postings.
>
> The National Digital Library Program and the Manuscript Division at the
> Library of Congress and the University Press of Virginia are pleased to
> announce the release of the documentary edition The Diaries of George
> Washington on the American Memory Collections Web site at
> <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/> The Diaries are the work of the
> editors of The Papers of George Washington at the University of
> Virginia. Also included in this release is the remainder of Series 4,
> General Correspondence, completing the online presentation of the George
> Washington Papers at the Library of Congress.
>
> George Washington's diaries (1748-1799) offer a unique window into the
> daily life of the most celebrated founder of the United States. Unlike
> Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and Benjamin Franklin,
> Washington kept a daily diary for much of his life, from his first
> surveying trip in 1748 until December 13, 1799, the day before his
> death. The Library of Congress holds thirty-seven of fifty-one known
> diary volumes and diary fragments. The published documentary edition,
> The Diaries of George Washington, edited by Donald Jackson and Dorothy
> Twohig, includes all fifty-one diaries and diary fragments. This release
> makes all these materials available to the public as searchable text and
> as bitonal and grayscale page images. The Diaries are one of six series
> in the documentary edition The Papers of George Washington
> (http://www.virginia.edu/gwpapers/) published by the University Press of
> Virginia (http://www.upress.virginia.edu/index.html).
>
> The documentary edition provides diary introductions and annotations
> that identify all persons mentioned in the texts, explain their
> relationship to Washington and his activities, and are often accompanied
> by portrait reproductions. The editors have identified the slaves and
> white artisans Washington employed on his farms, as well as the plants,
> crops, implements, and mechanical devices with which he experimented.
> Historical background about major events in Washington's life clarifies
> and enriches the significance of the diary texts. The volumes feature a
> variety of maps and illustrations.
>
> During the course of his life Washington kept many different kinds of
> diaries: travel diaries; diaries devoted to specific events; and most
> consistently daily diaries of weather, work, and events at Mount Vernon
> and his various farms. He kept diaries during his visit to Barbados in
> 1751-52 with his half-brother Lawrence who was seeking to recover his
> health; and for his expeditions to the Ohio River region in 1753-54,
> during the preliminary phases of the French and Indian (or Seven Year)
> War. He began his Revolutionary War diary at Yorktown in 1781, lamenting
> "not having attempted it from the commencement of the War, . . . ." At
> the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, Washington sent
> to Mount Vernon for his current diary volume so he could maintain it
> while he presided over the convention's proceedings. Significant diaries
> for Washington's presidency from 1789-1796 survive in the form of
> journals of presidential tours of New England in 1789 and of the South
> in 1791.
>
> Washington began keeping daily diaries of his life at Mount Vernon by
> 1760. Mount Vernon became his property in 1758, and eventually it
> consisted of five separate farms. Washington was devoted to its
> expansion and development, and the "diaries are a monument to that
> concern," as the editors of the documentary edition note (vol. I, p.
> xxvi). Often kept in the blank pages of published Virginia almanacs,
> Washington's entries record family, neighborhood, and local events;
> weather; and most importantly his transition from planter to farmer,
> from his early frustrating efforts with the cash crop tobacco to a
> commitment to diversification and production for a domestic market and
> his abiding interest in experimentation with the latest agricultural
> methods. Shortly before his death, Washington was drafting yet another
> plan for crop rotation and new farming operations.
>
> The definitive transcriptions, introductory essays, and rich annotation
> provided by The Diaries of George Washington offer a unique opportunity
> to explore the thoughts, activities, and historical world of one of our
> nation's essential founders. The online presentation of these materials
> now makes them available to a much wider audience than ever before.
>
> Please direct all questions to NDLPCOLL@loc.gov
> _________________________________________________________
>
> Elizabeth L. Brown
> Automated Reference Services Librarian
> National Digital Library Program, LIBN/NDL/LC(1330)
> Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-1330
> ebro@loc.gov telephone: 202/707-2235
>
> Library of Congress American Memory Home Page:
> http://memory.loc.gov/
> _________________________________________________________
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