Collections : [The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon]

The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon

The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
3600 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway
Mount Vernon, VA 22121
Primary Collecting Areas:
George and Martha Washington, Mount Vernon, Founding Era and Early Republic, Historic preservation, Decorative arts, Mount Vernon Ladies' Association
Description:

The Fred W. Smith National Library includes general collections, special collections and archives as a resource for scholars, students, and those interested in George Washington, colonial America and the Revolutionary and founding eras.

The library's general collections include secondary source materials on the Washington and Custis families, and the colonial and founding eras.

The Special Collections materials highlight the lives of George and Martha Washington as well as their descendants through correspondence, financial materials, and original books from George and Martha Washington's library.

The archives of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association holds the historic institutional records of the organization dating back to its founding in 1853.

POC: Reference services
Phone: (703) 780-3600
Start Over Repository The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon Date range 1868 Subjects Diaries

Bound Manuscript Diary, Anne S. Frobel 1 Volumes Box 109, Shelf Closed Stacks

Anne S. Frobel's father, John Jacob Frobel, was Ann Washington's music teacher, and lived for a short time at Mount Vernon (circa 1804-1806) with Bushrod and Ann Washington. The diary includes reminiscences of her childhood visits to Mount Vernon.Part I of the diary covers the Civil War years, 1861-1865. It constitutes almost 90% of the diary and deals with Anne and her sister Elizabeth's experiences as two female southern sympathizers alone on a farmstead, "Wilton Hill," outside of Alexandria, Va. Frobel describes the occupation of northern Virginia by Union soldiers, as well as their own house and grounds by the Union Army.She reveals both their fears and courage as she describes problems with Union soldier raids, and her attempts to get protection from Union officers. She relates the hazards of travelling to Alexandria, difficulties obtaining passes, and the desertion of slaves to the army. She also relates her own deteriorating relationship with her slaves, and their relationship to the soldiers.Part II of the diary describes a six-year period after the war, 1873-1879, detailing Elizabeth's and her financial hardships and the difficulty of collecting rent from tenants. She also relates their attempts to sell their farm.

  1. The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
  2. Historic manuscript collection
  3. Series 2. Ledgers and Bound Manuscripts

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