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George Washington Papers, 1741-1799, gives a detailed
account of the political and personal life of George Washington
and consists of his diaries, accounts, correspondence, military,
and other accumulated papers.
The text that is searched is a direct transcription of the letterbooks
as written in the eighteenth century. The spelling has not been
modernized. Early spellings or special spellings (ligatures), such
as foederal for federal, occur. In some instances, Washington
varied the spelling in such words as insuing for ensuing
or inclosure for enclosure.
There are many abbreviations in the texts. When searching for cities
or states, think of different ways names might be abbreviated. For
example, searching for mass will be more productive than
searching for Massachusetts. Some abbreviations will be
unique, for example, philada for Philadelphia.
Events, such as Shay's Rebellion, require more than one search
request. Washington referred to this event by such terms as that
"commotion in Mass." Other terms that produce results are insurrection
and disorder. For best results, search for an item, read
the text to learn Washington's description for the item, then search
on Washington's term.
There are many different types of documents within the George
Washington Papers, such as diaries, journals, and letterbooks.
Washington's correspondence was copied into the letterbooks. Therefore,
there may be several different letters copied on to the same page.
Searches for individuals with common first names (such as James,
John, George, and Thomas) result in large hit lists. To narrow results,
search on
a last name only or look for exact matches with an individual's
first and last name.
For more help with searching, go to Finding
Items in American Memory.
