Scope and Content Note
The papers of Robert Mills (1781-1855), first American-born professional architect, and an early proponent of Greek revival in American architecture, consist of correspondence, bills, receipts, cost estimates, plans, drawings, sketches, proposals, reports, and notebooks. Dating from 1804 to 1862, the collection relates chiefly to his design of public buildings. Only a few letters of a personal nature are present, and are for the period 1804-1808. Other correspondence consists principally of letters, 1830-1850, addressed to Mills as Architect of the Capitol and of copies and drafts of letters by him. The subject matter in both cases is the design, construction, expansion, alteration, and furnishing of public buildings in Washington, such as the Patent Office, Post Office, Treasury, Capitol, and Washington Monument.
Two of Mills's notebooks, or memoranda books, are similarly devoted to matters relating to his career as architect and engineer. The first, dated 1816, contains notes, small drawings and sketches, plans for furnaces, formulae, calculations, and diary-like comments on his activities, largely in connection with commissions in Richmond and Baltimore, including Baltimore's Washington Monument. The second notebook, undated, but with some entries spanning 1835-1840, has notes and sketches of a like character, but pertaining to the public buildings and public works of Washington, and to the Washington Monument.
Also in the papers are a few reports and proposals in Mills's hand, a folder of plans and drawings, miscellaneous bills, receipts, and cost estimates, and printed matter.