The final release of digital images of the George Washington Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress is now online in the American Memory Web site at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/. The Thomas Jefferson Papers project has also been completed and can be found online at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/.
"The conclusion of these projects marks an important milestone for the Library and its American Memory program, which makes millions of important historical items freely available online to all Americans," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "Now, all the materials in the Library's collections from three of our most-studied presidents—Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln—can be accessed online from anywhere in the world."
In the final release of the Washington papers, 45 items dating from 1763 to 1797 have been added. These letters, survey documents and other materials. They are a part of the Addenda to the Washington Papers, manuscripts acquired after the bulk of the collection had been processed and microfilmed. Among the newly added manuscripts are survey documents relating to the Dismal Swamp and letters to and from Washington, Noah Webster and Gen. John Cadwalader.
This final release will bring the total to more than 65,000 items, consisting of correspondence, letterbooks, commonplace books, diaries, journals, financial account books, military records, reports and notes accumulated by Washington from 1741 through 1799.
The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress is the largest collection of original Washington documents in the world. Because of the wide range of Washington's interests, activities and correspondents, which include ordinary citizens as well as celebrated figures, his papers are a rich source for almost every aspect of colonial and early American history.
The newly available online material from the Jefferson papers comprises letters and other documents, including correspondence with business associates, an order for an execution and a subsequent pardon signed by Jefferson. The online Jefferson papers now total more than 27,000 items and include correspondence, notes, commonplace books, financial account books and manuscript volumes. The papers, housed in the Library's Manuscript Division, are the most important collection of Jefferson materials in the world.
American Memory is a project of the National Digital Library Program of the Library of Congress. Its more than 120 collections, which range from papers of the U.S. presidents, Civil War photographs and early films of Thomas Edison to papers documenting the women's suffrage and civil rights movements, Jazz Age photographs and the first baseball cards, include more than 8.5 million items from the Library of Congress and other major repositories.