Press Contact: Guy Lamolinara (202) 707-9217

September 17, 1998

On-Line Collection of George Washington Papers Expands

New items, including important documents relating to the Revolutionary War, have been added to the Library's on- line collections of the George Washington Papers. The materials are part of the American Memory Collections, available at www.loc.gov/.

The second release of the Washington papers includes approximately 23,000 images and texts. The complete George Washington Papers, held in the Library's Manuscript Division, consist of some 65,000 documents. Ninety-five percent of extant Washington documents are at the Library of Congress. Document types in the collection include correspondence, letterbooks, commonplace books, diaries, journals, financial account books, military records, reports and notes accumulated by Washington from 1741 through 1799. The collection is organized into eight series or groupings.

The collection is being presented in successive releases. This second release comprises Series 3 and Series 5. Series 3 includes 44 letterbooks from the Revolutionary War period, 1775-1783, and Series 5 consists of 34 volumes of financial papers, 1750-1796. The first release, Series 2 in February 1998, included 41 letterbooks, dating from 1774 through 1799.

This project is funded by Reuters America Inc. and the Reuter Foundation.

The approximately 65,000 items in the George Washington Papers in the Library's Manuscript Division reflect Washington's careers as surveyor, plantation owner, military commander in the service of and in revolt against the British government and practical politician. His correspondence, account books and military papers are the preeminent sources for military aspects of the French and Indian wars and the American Revolution. Washington's correspondence, diaries, journals and meticulously maintained records of federal appointment applications are unparalleled reservoirs of information on the United States Constitution and the creation of the national government. These collections of the papers of Washington and 22 other presidents are the core of the Library of Congress's unequaled sources for the study of the founding of the American nation and its national government.

American Memory is a project of the National Digital Library Program, which, in collaboration with other institutions, will make available on-line the most important American history materials of the Library and other major repositories. More than 40 collections are now available, including the recent addition of many never-before-seen photographs in "America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photos from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, 1935-1945."

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PR 98-147
9/17/98
ISSN 0731-3527

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