Washington Letter Visits Mount Vernon

One of our George Washington letters written from Mount Vernon has gone home for a visit, so to speak. The December 4, 1788 letter to Arthur Young is currently on loan to Mount Vernon for their exhibit Take Note! George Washington as a Reader.

George Washington, autograph letter signed to Arthur Young, 4 December 1788. AMs 436/7

Arthur Young was a English expert on farming and the publisher of the Annals of Agriculture, which he sent to Washington as a gift. He corresponded with Washington on agricultural matters and the Rosenbach has an album of the letters from Washington to Young. To learn more about Young and his relationship with Washington, see this excellent page on Mount Vernon’s site. Washington’s letters were also published posthumously as Letters from His Excellency General Washington, to Arthur Young, Esq., F.R.S. which you can now read online.

If you find yourself down in the D.C. area between now and January 12 you can swing by and check out the exhibit (and say hello to our letter). Mount Vernon is privately run, so it is open during the shutdown. Here’s what the entrance to the exhibit looks like–I thought the giant books were a really fun idea.

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Here is a nice shot of the gallery; our letter is in the case along the left-hand wall.

There’s more about Take Note!  and the opening of a new library at Mount Vernon in this New York Times piece. Tune in to the blog next week for more on the many, varied places Rosenbach objects can be found.


Kathy Haas is the Associate Curator at the Rosenbach Museum & Library.