Eleanor Parke Custis: An Inventory of Her Papers

Overview of the Collection:

Creator (collector of these papers): Elizabeth Bordley Gibson, others.
Title: The Papers of Eleanor (Nelly ) Parke Custis Lewis.
Dates: 1794-1851 (bulk 1820 - 1835).
Abstract: Mainly letters written by Custis, granddaughter of Martha Washington, to her friend, Elizabeth Bordley Gibson.
Quantity: 270 letters, 244 written by Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, 1794-1851, and 26 letters written to her, One obituary, two poems, legal documents, fragments. Eight bound volumes of school exercise books. Two bound volumes of typescripts.
Location: Archives, stacks.

Brief biographical outline:

Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis Lewis, b. 1779-d. 1852, was the daughter of John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert Custis, and the granddaughter of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington and step-granddaughter of George Washington. Nelly was raised by her grandparents at Mount Vernon after her father died in 1781. As a young girl, she was part of the first family while George Washington was president in Philadelphia and New York. She provides a unique perspective on the presidential household. Nelly married Lawrence Lewis (1767-1839, nephew of George Washington) in 1799. The couple lived near Mount Vernon at Woodlawn. Nelly and Lawrence had eight children, all but one of whom, the first, predeceased her.

Scope and content of the collection:

The collection consists mostly of 244 letters written by Lewis, 1794-1851, including 189 letters to her lifelong friend, Elizabeth Bordley Gibson, and 26 letters to her, 1796-1850. She discusses nostalgia for life in Philadelphia when Washington was president, her fond memories of life at Mount Vernon, and her affection for the Washingtons. Twenty-two of the letters were written before her marriage to Lawrence Lewis, while she was still a member of the Washington household.

Organization of the collection:

Divided into loose and bound manuscripts: loose are arranged chronologically, bound are in the archives.

Access terms:

These records are indexed under the following headings in the Mount Vernon library's catalog.
Lewis, Nelly Custis, 1779-1852.
Washington family.
Plantation life -- Virginia -- 18th century.
Slaves -- Social conditions -- Virginia -- 18th century.
Women -- Education -- 18th century.
Mount Vernon (Va. : Estate).
Philadelphia (Pa.) -- Social life and customs -- 18th century.
Legal documents.
Letters.
Poems.
Conrad, Charles Magill, 1804-1878 -- recipient.
Gibson, Elizabeth Bordley -- correspondent.
Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834 -- correspondent.
Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850 -- correspondent.
Washington, Martha, 1731-1802 -- correspondent.

Detailed Description of the Collection:

Letters detail social life, female education, and close extended family ties of young women of Nelly's social position in the 18th century. She also expresses her feelings on marriage, motherhood, a woman's role in the home, and in particular her anxieties over the health and welfare of her children. Letters reveal the concerns of a southern planter's life including difficulties with slaves, poor crops, prevalence of death and disease, and lack of cash. She expresses her views on politics and well-known political figures, responds to myths about Washington and recalls how he treated slaves at Mount Vernon.

Other correspondence includes 46 letters written to son-in-law, Charles M. Conrad, 1834-47, mainly relating family matters. Letter to her brother, George Washington Parke Custis, describes Nelly's memories of Jean Antoine Houdon making a plaster cast of George Washington at Mount Vernon. Correspondents include Elizabeth Bordley Gibson, Martha Washington, Marquis de Lafayette and Zachary Taylor.

Miscellaneous papers include notes, poems and tribute written by Nelly for her deceased daughter, legal documents, her French exercise book and five page reminiscence of Nelly by friend Elizabeth Bordley Gibson. Papers also include copies of letters in other repositories' manuscript collections.

Alternate form available:
Brady, Patricia, ed. George Washington's Beautiful Nelly : the letters of Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis to Elizabeth Bordley Gibson, 1794-1851. Columbia, SC : University of South Carolina Press, 1991. ISBN 0872497542. 119 of the 189 letters written by Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis to Elizabeth Bordley Gibson have been published in this book.

Related materials:

"The Nelly Custis letters." Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union. Annual Report 1952: 54-55

Britt, Judith S. Nothing More Agreeable, Music in George Washington's Family. Mount Vernon, Va. : Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, 1984. Four of the eight chapters are devoted to Nelly: "Nelly Custis in the Nation's Capital," "Home to Mount Vernon," Eleanor Parke Lewis at Woodlawn," and "Nelly's Instruments Today."
Britt, Judith S., compiler. Custis Music Books : Contents of Books Owned by Martha Parke Custis (1756-1773) & Eleanor Parke Custis (1779-1852) a supplement to Nothing More Agreeable. Includes descriptions of manuscripts and published works in MVLA's collection and in other collections.
Lynch, James B., Jr. The Custis Chronicles : The Virginia Generations. Camden, Me. : Picton Press, 1997. ISBN 0897252217. Genealogical book extending from 17th to the 19th centuries.
Ribblett, David L. Nelly Custis, Child of Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon, Va. : Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, 1993. ISBN 0931917239.
Schmit, Patricia Brady. Nelly Custis Lewis's Housekeeping Book. New Orleans, La. : by Historic New Orleans Collection, 1982. ISBN 0917860098. Edited transcription of a book Nelly kept in her hand, now in the Historic New Orleans Collection, on household management, recipes, medical practices, clothing and clothes care, household and hobby products.

Woodlawn Plantation

Children's books:
Bourne, Miriam Anne. Nelly Custis' Diary. New York : Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1974.
MacDonald, Rose Mortimer Ellzey. Nelly Custis, Daughter of Mount Vernon. Boston : Ginn and Company, 1937.

Administrative information:
Restrictions on use: may be cited only with permission.

Preferred citation: "[Name and date of item], Mount Vernon Ladies' Association." See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession information: Bound volumes: music books: W74, W75, W703, W1368A, W1368B, W1368C; French exercise books: A320, A575.

Processing information: Original inventory written by Susan Hamburger. This inventory was revised and expanded by Sandy Newton, August 4, 1999.