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Mount Vernon Estate Acquires George Washington’s Acts of Congress

George Washington’s original copy of the Acts of Congress will once again find a home at Mount Vernon, the first president’s beloved Virginia estate. The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association emerged as the winning bidder in a recent auction at Christie’s in New York, securing the prized volume for the shelves of the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington. Slated to open in fall 2013, the library will function as a privately-funded presidential library for George Washington.

Emblazoned with Washington’s bookplate and featuring his handwritten notes penciled in the margins, the 106-page book contains Washington’s personal copy of the U.S. Constitution, a draft of the Bill of Rights, and other documents recording the early acts of the new Congress. Washington received the book in 1789, his first year in office as U.S. president, and brought it with him to Mount Vernon upon his retirement from public office in 1797.

he volume is a centerpiece for the association’s latest initiative, the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington. Currently under construction near the main entrance to the estate, the library will serve as a place to safeguard Washington’s documents as well as a gathering place for leaders and scholars. The association has currently raised more than $85 million of the $100 million needed for the construction of the library and its initial slate of programming.

For more information about the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of Mount Vernon, visit www.MountVernon.org/library.

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