LC National Digital Library Program announces George Washington Papers 3rd release

[Tamara Swora-Gober <tswo@xxxxxxx>]

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This information is being widely cross-posted.

From: Library of Congress National Digital Library Program
ndlpcoll@xxxxxxx
http://memory.loc.gov

The Library of Congress National Digital Library Program and the
Manuscript Division announce the third release of the George Washington
Papers at the Library of Congress on the American Memory Collections
website at 

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/.

The first release in February 1998 included Series 2, Letterbooks,
1754-1799; the second release in August 1998 included Series 3, Varick
Transcripts, 1775-1783, and Series 5, Financial Papers, 1750-1796. This
third release includes the first installment of Series 4, General
Correspondence, 1697 through July 2, 1776; Series 6, Military Papers,
1755-1798; Series 7, Applications for Office, 1789-1796; and Series 8,
Miscellaneous Papers, ca. 1775-1799.

Series 4 consists of incoming correspondence, which complements Series
2 and 3 Letterbooks, containing copies of Washington's outgoing
letters. Late seventeenth-century wills of Washington's grand-uncle
John Washington and his grandfather Lawrence Washington are among the
remarkable documents in Series 4. Transcriptions that accompany
documents are taken from the five-volume LETTERS TO WASHINGTON AND
ACCOMPANYING PAPERS, ed. Stanislaus Murray Hamilton (New York, 1898).

Series 6, Military Papers (2600 images), includes colonial orderly and
memoranda books, and, for the Revolutionary War period, captured
British orderly books, accounts of interrogations of British deserters,
correspondence, reports, and other kinds of records.

Series 7, Applications for Office (6600 images), consists of letters
from a great diversity of candidates. These often include personal
accounts and letters of reference, presenting a slice of social history
of the early federal government and perhaps also providing sources for
genealogical research.

Lastly, Series 8, Miscellaneous Papers (800 images), includes four
small groupings: a small collection of manuscript letters from
Washington, 1773-99; military commissions, honorary degrees,
certificates, and memberships, 1775-98; surveying instructions,
1750-52; and volumes of extracts, abstracts, and notes on political and
agricultural topics written by Washington, 1760-1799.

This third release of the George Washington Papers comprises
approximately 19,000 images, presented online as GIF images with 200
dpi grayscale JPEG images also available.

Together, the first, second, and third releases of the Washington
Papers represent approximately 50,000 images, one-third of the 147,000
images that will make up the whole online collection. The next update
of Series 4, General Correspondence, will bring that Series up from
July 2, 1776 to October 20, 1779, adding approximately 25,000 images to
the first intallment of 7,000, and, bringing the Washington Papers
collection as a whole to its two-thirds mark. Series 1, Exercise Books
and Diaries, 1741-1799, will be the final series of the George
Washington Papers to be presented online.