Archive
Introduction to the Manuscript Collection
The Tudor Place Manuscript Collection of approximately 300 linear feet consists of the personal papers of the Custis-Peter family from the mid-18th century to 1984. It includes correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, financial records, inventories, photographs, blueprints, architectural drawings, and ephemera. The Collection documents the history of the family and its collateral relations and is particularly complete in recording the history of the property, the house and its contents, and the garden from the 1860s to 1984.
The Collection includes: 1) one of the three known surviving letters written by George Washington to his wife Martha; 2) land records of Robert Peter, first mayor of Georgetown and one of the sixteen original landowners of the District of Columbia; 3) bills and receipts from 1860 to 1983 covering daily living expenses, servants' wages, and repairs and renovations of the property; and 4) the papers of Paul Wayland Bartlett, an American expatriate sculptor working at the turn of the 20th century.
CLICK HERE for a Full Description of the Manuscript Collection
Research Request Contact Information
Detailed finding aids are available at Tudor Place for all of the collections. In addition, the manuscript collections are listed in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) and Collections/DC, a computerized register of local historical sources.
The Tudor Place Archives are open by appointment to researchers with legitimate and approved research requests. Requests for access should be made by telephone or letter to the archivist, noting area of interest and proposed project. The procedures for access are detailed in "Rules Governing the Use of Materials in the Tudor Place Archives," and are available upon request. Use of the papers and all literary rights are controlled by the Foundation.
Contact Person:
Wendy Kail, Archivist
Tudor Place Foundation, Inc.
1644 31st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007
202.965,0400 ext. 105
wkail@tudorplace.org
Research hours:
By appointment
The Tudor Place archival program has as its specific mission the preservation of the Collection bequeathed by Armistead Peter 3rd, facilitation of the Collection's use, and acquisition of related manuscripts. The Collection Management Policy calls for the acquisition of materials related to the Custis-Peter family including its collateral branches, the property from the 1790s to the present, and the social and economic history of Georgetown and Washington, DC, as it pertains to the history of Tudor Place. The arrangement and description of the Tudor Place Manuscript Collection were made possible by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
