Md. plantation attic holds 400 years of documents

[babylonsister]

Md. plantation attic holds 400 years of documents

By KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press Writer


CENTREVILLE, Md. (AP) -- For four centuries, they were the ultimate pack rats. Now a Maryland family's massive collection of letters, maps and printed bills has surfaced in the attic of a former plantation, providing a firsthand account of life from the 1660s through World War II.

"Historians are used to dealing with political records and military documents," said Adam Goodheart, a history professor at nearby Washington College. "But what they aren't used to is political letters and military documents kept right alongside bills for laundry or directions for building a washing machine."

Goodheart is working with state archivists and a crew of four student interns to collect the documents, which were found stuffed into boxes, barrels and peach baskets.

"Look at this: 'Negro woman, Sarah, about 27 years old, $25,'" Goodheart says, reading from a 19th century inventory. "It was as though this family never threw away a scrap of paper."

The documents include maps, letters, financial records, political posters, even a lock of hair from a letter dated Valentine's Day, 1801. There's a love poem from the 1830s (in which a young man graphically tells his sweetheart what he'd do if he sneaked into her room on a winter's night), along with war accounts and bills of sale from slaves and crops.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FOUR_CENTURIES_OF_LETTERS?SITE=OHALL2&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[skooooo]

1. wow that's amazing...nt

[arcadian]

2. "among the documents was a stack of Playboys from 1962, considered priceless"

kidding

[AngryAmish]

5. Interesting article about just this sort of thing

March '74 Oui Passed Down To Next Generation In Special Ceremony

[JohnnyLib2]

3. Wonderful story.

And thankfully, no one is hauling it all to the landfill!

[pleah]

4. A treasure-trove!

[cobalt1999]

6. That is so cool

I remember cleaning out my grandmother attic. So many letters, papers, etc. that I had to keep most of it out of curiosity, and it wasn't even historically important stuff.

[Wickerman]

7. Very cool

here is a blog by the archivists.

http://poplargroveproject.blogspot.com/

[onethatcares]

8. I find things like this facinating.

as a young country, letters and documents like this shed light into normal (yeah, I know) everyday life of our ancestors and predecessors. I'm constantly on the lookout for the old stuff anymore, because I threw so much of it out when I was young and dumb.

[babylonsister]

9. I think we all threw out stuff we wish we hadn't; Barbie dolls and baseball

cards come to mind for me.