Library of Congress acquires Martha Washington letter for $47,500

The Library of Congress acquired a letter Martha Washington wrote to her friend Margaret Green for $47,500, bringing an original item in Washington’s handwriting into the Library’s Manuscript Division for the first time. The Times of India reported that the purchase was made through the Library’s James Madison Council Edwin L. Cox Legacy Trust.

The letter bears the date September 29, 1760. It describes Washington’s four-year-old daughter recovering from an illness, according to the Times of India. The Washington Post and Newser headlines characterize the letter as concerning the daughter’s epilepsy; those headlines do not provide further detail about the document or its contents.

The account identifies the child as Patsy and says the recovery described in the letter did not last. The Times of India reports that her seizures continued. It says George Washington later recorded her death in his diary on June 19, 1773, quoting the entry as “poor Patcy Custis Died Suddenly” and giving the time as about five o’clock in the afternoon.

The letter is one of two documents the Library acquired together, according to the Times of India. The other was written by Mary Todd Lincoln on February 15, 1865, two months before President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. The account does not state the price paid for the Lincoln letter or whether it was acquired through the same trust.

The Times of India notes that Martha Washington married George Washington in 1759 and that the couple raised Patsy and John “Jacky” Parke Custis. After Jacky died in 1781 at age 26, the account says, Martha and George Washington raised two of his youngest children, George Washington Parke Custis and Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis.

The Library’s purchase adds the Martha Washington letter to its Manuscript Division holdings; the article calls the acquisition more than simply a rare-manuscript purchase but does not explain that characterization further.

The account identifies the letter’s recipient, date, purchase price and funding trust, while the two headlines independently emphasize the daughter’s epilepsy. The article does not provide additional details about the acquisition process or the letter’s present display or access arrangements.