Washington, D.C., History Resources

A repository consisting of the family papers of George Mason IV (1725-1792), a signer of the Constitution who established the Gunston Hall Plantation which is now a historic site open to the public. The collection includes rare books including treatises on cooking, household management and gardening and the papers of George Mason and his son John Mason (1766-1849), a tobacco factor and banker based in Georgetown, D.C. This repository is a partner in the Founding Fathers Consortium which maintains a consolidated card catalog.

A repository of materials materials related to the era of George Washington, this Library is the custodian of papers created by members of the Washington family. In addition to the documentation related directly to the Mount Vernon household, these papers include family members living in Washington with extensive documentation of slavery, including the Peter and Law families in Georgetown and the Custis-Lee family of Arlington. Mount Vernon has constructed a database related to the people enslaved at the estate. The Library's site provides access to the finding aids of its manuscript collections and digital collections. The Library is a partner in the Founding Fathers Consortium.

An example of Richardsonian Romanesque residential architecture, this mansion was constructed between 1892 and 1894 by Christian Heurich (1842-1945), a German immigrant who established a the city's largest brewery on the site of the present-day Kennedy Center. Its collections support the interpretation of the site which features the work of German-American craftspeople, early 20th-century domestic technology, and business papers.

Built in 1805, Tudor Place was the home of members of the Peter family. Thomas Peter, the son of a Scottish tobacco factor, and Martha Custis Peter, the granddaughter of George and Martha Washington, built Tudor Place as their urban residence. They relied upon the labor of enslaved people and, after emancipation, freed Black and Irish immigrant servants to maintain their gardens, help with child care, nurse them through sickness, and cook their meals. The Tudor Place Archive documents this family and the lives of these free and enslaved servants.