Inventory of Mount Vernon Weekly Farm Reports

Overview of this collection

Creator (collector of these papers):George Washington, 1732 – 1799

Title: Weekly Farm Reports

Dates: 1786-1797

Abstract: Reports submitted by George Washington's farm managers of their activities.

Quantity: Eleven manuscript farm reports (one bound) and seven bound volumes of copies of farm reports.

Location: Archives and stacks areas.

Background on these reports:

From the period of November 1785 until his death in 1799 George Washington maintained himself, or required his managers to maintain, reports of work done at the Mount Vernon farms the preceding week. When Washington was away from home during the Revolutionary War and during his two terms as president, he relied on these detailed reports to oversee the operations of his five farms.

Scope and content of the collection:

The reports always followed the same pattern: a meteorological account at the top, and then an accounting of how the manager used the labor available to him at each farm each week.

The entry for February 1793, for example, begins with the name of the farm, "Mansion House." The "Credit" follows: the number of people working on that farm, 6 men, 3 boys, 4 girls, [= 13 people, multiplied by 6 days to make a week] = a credit of 78 possible days of labor. Then the "Debit": the task, who performed it, and how long it took. The Debit is then subtracted from the Credit (and always equals zero).

Washington himself wrote the first weekly reports. These were from November 1785 to April 1786. They were aided by the reports of the overseers from the various farms, and included the tasks assigned to workers, and births and deaths of livestock. The names of at least thirty slaves appear in the reports at least once, and can also be found in the census he made in February 1786. Reports detail stock on each farm, amount of grain at mill, an internal account of mill activity, assignments for labor and days lost to sickness.

Organization of the collection:

Chronological.

Access terms:

These records are indexed under the following headings in the Mount Vernon library's catalog. Researchers wishing to find related materials should search the catalog under these index terms.

Farm management.

Plantations -- Virginia -- 18th century.

Mount Vernon (Va. : Estate)

Reports.

Washington, George, 1732-1799.

Administrative information:

Restrictions on use: by permission of library staff.

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

Accession information: The bound manuscript account book, covering November 1786 to April 1787, was given to the Association in 1916. It is numbered W 1174. Eight of the other manuscript reports are part of the Thom collection, acquired by the Association in 1944. These are all under the accession number A 283. The other two manuscripts are numbered A-301. The facsimiles were made largely from manuscripts at the Library of Congress. They are numbered: PS 17; W-1174; PS 11, A-283, PS 136; Wr-5; PS 10, PS 11, PS 136, A-283, PS 140; PS 140, PS 141; PS 72.

Processing information: [Original processor unidentified. This inventory written by Lisa Odum, 12 August 1999.]

Detailed Description of the Collection:

Manuscripts:

18 November 1786 - 28 April 1787. Bound volume. Includes reports on house servants and a detailed description of building the greenhouse. (Alternative form available: #7F, bound volume of photostats.)

21-27 February 1790. Describes putting up post and rail fence around vineyard. (Alternative form available: Reel #2 of Mount Vernon Washington manuscripts on microfilm. (Set of ten reels covers the years 1601-1914. Filmed in 1958, by the State Library in Richmond.)

14-20 March 1790. Details lathing and shingling of the shed in the barnyard, and work on "new road" at Mansion House, plus new barn and making of a table leaf for the large dining room table. (Alternative form available: reel #2 of microfilm.

8-14 August 1790. (Alternative form available: reel #5 of microfilm.)

4-11 September 1790. (Alternative form available: reel #2 of microfilm.)

<12-18 September 1790. Describes new barn and stables at the Mansion House. (Alternative form available: reel #2 of microfilm.)

5-11 December 1790. Includes making of sheds for new barn and the enclosure of the cow house with a new fence. (Alternative form available: reel #2 of microfilm.)

6-12 January 1793. Gives weights of River Plantation hogs and remaining mill hogs. (Alternative form available: reel #2 of microfilm.)

10-16 February 1793. Describes the clearing of land for the "second vista" and gives itemized account of sheep and lambs.(Alternative form available: reel #2 of microfilm.)

17-23 March 1793.(Alternative form available: reel #2 of microfilm.)

4-10 August 1793.(Alternative form available: reel #2 of microfilm.)

#8F: 19 April 1789 - 17 September 1791. Photostats.

#9F: 8 January 1792 - 8 November 1794. Photostats.

#15F: 27 July 1793 - 4 March 1797. Typed transcripts.

#10F: 10 January 1795 - 18 March 1797. Photostats.

#13F: 25 October 1786 - 19 September 1799. Photostats of handwritten transcripts. (Toner transcripts).

Most of these copies were made from manuscripts in the collection of the Library of Congress.

Related materials:

Published
Abbot, W.W. and Dorothy Twohig, editors. Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series. Charlottesville, Va. : University Press of Virginia, 1994. Especially volume 3, pages 389-410. Retirement Series, volume 1, note on pages 60-61, reports 61-66; 110-115.

Conway, Moncure Daniel. "George Washington and Mount Vernon : a collection of Washington’s unpublished agricultural and personal letters." Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, v. 4. Brooklyn, NY : the Society, 1889. 122 Letters George Washington to William Pearce between 1793 and 1796, a few other letters to Burgess Ball, Howell Lewis, Burwell Bassett, Robert Lewis, Bushrod Washington, and others. Indexed.

Unpublished:
Craftsmen reports, which include work of millers, spinners/knitters, gardeners, ditchers, coopers, joiners and carpenters with some fees included.

Bound volumes of facsimiles & transcriptions:
#11F Washington's Notes & Observations, 1785 – 1786.

#16F Mount Vernon Farm Ledger, jan 1794 - December 1796 / Wm. Pearce. MVLA accession number 631P. Title page includes a facsimile of what appears to be a description of the book in an auction catalog. Index in front. Digital images available in facsimile at the Library of Congress website.

#18F Weekly Reports of Gen. Washington’s Gardener, January 6, 1797 – January 26, 1799.

#’s 20F and 20Fa. Mount Vernon Farm Accounts, I - II, September 16, 1797 - January 1799.

#21F Mount Vernon Farm Ledger, 1797-1798.

#31F Mount Vernon Managerial Correspondence 1758-1799 : a calendar of the correspondence between George Washington and his managers, and of the Weekly Reports, intended as a chronological key to material therein relating to the development of the area within the Mansion House Farm.