About the Project
The Papers of Bushrod Washington is a digital documentary editing project focused on the personal papers of George Washington's nephew, Bushrod Washington. The digital edition includes documents scattered worldwide and thus largely unknown or overlooked in the scholarship of the revolutionary, early national, and antebellum eras. Though project editors have contacted over 2,000 archives and repositories in the quest for documents, the document collection and editing process continues. Therefore, this is a living edition; editors will continue to add new documents and annotations to this digital resource.
Project Staff
Noah J. Beissel, Research Editor
Edward A. Bradley, Editor
Erica F. Cavanaugh, Project Developer
Jennifer E. Stertzer, Project Director
Project Sponsors
This publication was made possible by the generous support of Una Keyes Davis in honor of her mother Anita Ball Dawson Claeboe who is a direct descendant of Mary Ball Washington, the mother of George Washington. The project also received support from the William Nelson Cromwell Foundation, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, and the University of Virginia.
|
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Bushrod Washington to George Washington. 1797. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mgw440897/. |
Editorial Methods
The project's editorial policies conform to modern scholarly standards of transcription and annotation, and follow the long-established editorial methodologies and policies of the Papers of George Washington. Transcriptions aim to create a literal reproduction of the original document, retaining most punctuation, capitalization, spelling variations, and other grammatical anomalies. Dashes used as punctuation are retained except when a dash appears with a period or with another mark of punctuation. The appropriate marks of punctuation always are added at the end of paragraphs. Contractions and abbreviations are retained as written except that a period is dropped after contractions and inserted after an abbreviation when needed. Superscripts are lowered. Ampersands are retained, and the thorn is transcribed as “th.” The per sign is used when it appears in the manuscript. Editorial insertions or corrections in the text, which are used infrequently, appear in square brackets [ ]. Angle brackets < > are used to indicate illegible or mutilated text; when there is a basis for doing so, conjectural text is supplied within the brackets. The date and place of authorship are situated at the head of a document regardless of where they occur in the manuscript.
The recipient’s copy of a document is considered the best version and is used as the final text when it exists. Other versions of a document, if available, are examined for significant deletions from or changes and additions to the final text. Such alterations are noted in the annotation. If a draft document is written in a different hand, the fact is noted in the source note and, if known, the draft author is named. Due to the relative rarity of correspondence for the majority of our senders and recipients, when an original document is no longer available or existent, the project will make use of previously printed sources with a source note describing it as such. People, places, organizations, and court cases are identified clearly and accurately when adequate sources are available.
Symbols and Terms Designating Documents
| AD | Autograph Document: a document written in the author’s hand but not bearing the author’s signature | |
| ADS | Autograph Document Signed: a document both written and signed by the author | |
| ADf | Autograph Draft: a draft written in the author’s hand but not bearing the author’s signature | |
| ADfS | Autograph Draft Signed: a draft both written and signed by the author | |
| AL | Autograph Letter: a letter written in the author’s hand but not bearing the author’s signature | |
| ALS | Autograph Letter Signed: a letter both written and signed by the author | |
| D | Document: a document (not a letter) bearing neither the author’s handwriting nor signature | |
| DS | Document Signed: a document written in the hand of someone other than the author but bearing the author’s signature | |
| Df | Draft: a draft bearing neither the author’s handwriting nor signature | |
| DfS | Draft Signed: a draft written in the hand of someone other than the author but bearing the author’s signature | |
| L | Letter: a letter bearing neither the author’s handwriting nor signature | |
| LS | Letter Signed: a letter written in the hand of someone other than the author but bearing the author’s signature | |
| LB | Letters copied into a bound letter-book | |
| Copy | A contemporaneous handwritten representation made of any version of a letter or other document |
How to Cite the Edition
In Notes: [Document Title], [Document Date], The Papers of Bushrod Washington (Charlottesville: Washington Papers, 2024). [date of access], [add URL]. For example: Jared Sparks to Bushrod Washington, 4 November 1829, The Papers of Bushrod Washington (Charlottesville: Washington Papers, 2024). Accessed May 1, 2024, http://bushrod.washingtonpapers.org/node/3008.
In Bibliography: The Papers of Bushrod Washington. Charlottesville: Washington Papers, 2024. https://bushrod.washingtonpapers.org.