Scope and Content Note
The papers of John Clement Fitzpatrick (1876-1940) comprise four series spanning 1927-1940: General Correspondence , Correspondence with Sol Bloom , Miscellany , and Oversize . The bulk of the papers consists of correspondence dating between 1927 and 1941 centering on Fitzpatrick's service as editor of The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799, prepared under the direction of the George Washington Bicentennial Commission. Included are letters concerning the location of original Washington documents to be published in the volumes and correspondence with the Government Printing Office relating to the printing of these volumes.
Because Fitzpatrick was widely regarded as an authority on George Washington, much of the General Correspondence series concerns inquiries the editor received about Washington. The nationwide observance of the bicentennial of Washington's birth stimulated interest in every conceivable aspect of Washington's personal and public life. Fitzpatrick's replies to these wide-ranging questions are a valuable source of information on Washington. Various letters concern Washington's appearance and his dental problems, dentures, and dentist. There is also correspondence regarding the president's birthday, birthplace, death, burial, grave, and life mask, as well as other questions about his education and his ideas on education, his library, bookplate, sword, and the coat of arms and genealogy of the Washington family. Also included is a reply concerning a portrait of Mary Ball Washington, George Washington's mother, and considerable material on various portraits of Washington and Jean Antoine Houdon's bust of the president. Additionally, Fitzpatrick received many inquiries about the Washington "scandals," which he had attempted to refute in his pamphlet published in 1929. Washington's acts of charity, his religion and the so-called Washington's prayer, and his order against profanity are among other topics covered.
Fitzpatrick also received letters inquiring about Washington's surveys, travels, and writings, including among the latter his diaries, journals, account books, farewell address to the army, presidential farewell address, and both inaugural addresses. There is material relating to Mount Vernon, to Washington's marriage, including the date, place, and officiating minister, and to Washington's Masonic activities. There is also material relating to the origin of the Purple Heart award, correspondence about the papers of Washington's aide and friend, Tobias Lear, and answers to queries regarding the Declaration of Independence.
Sol Bloom , United States representative from New York, was vice chairman of the Washington Bicentennial Commission. There are letters to and from him in the General Correspondence series and also a separate series of his correspondence in connection with the commission. Bloom was interested in the observance of the sesquicentennial of the Constitution, and his correspondence contains a file, 1934-1938, concerning this project. William H. Richardson of New Jersey is also heavily represented in Fitzpatrick's General Correspondence . Richardson wrote extensively about the history of New Jersey during the American Revolution, Washington's activities in New Jersey, and the "Flying Camp." Also included in the collection is a file of mimeographed and printed matter that was sent to Fitzpatrick by Richardson.
Among the items in the Miscellany are photostats of letters of most signers of the Constitution, drafts of and notes for speeches by Fitzpatrick, proofs of the index and illustrative material for Writings of George Washington, plates of illustrations for Fitzpatrick's Aides and Secretaries to Gen. George Washington, transcripts, notes and drafts relating to a study of Virginia colonial governors, miscellaneous newspaper clippings, and Oversize photostats of amendments and proposed amendments to the Constitution.
In 1988 three card files maintained by Fitzpatrick were added to the collection. One file contains addresses of acquaintances, reference librarians, historical societies, book shops, publishers and editors, heads of history department, and historians. The second file is Fitzpatrick's working card index to his Writings of George Washington, and the third is a record of the material that he sent to the Government Printing Office for the publication of the Writings.
Correspondents in the General Correspondence series include Randolph Greenfield Adams, Maxwell Anderson, George A. Ball, Sol Bloom, Julian P. Boyd, Roy Bird Cook, Francis Pendleton Gaines, Curtis Wiswell Garrison, Louis F. Gottschalk, U. S. Grant (1881-1968), Alfred Bushnell Hart, Archibald Henderson, Rupert Hughes, J. Franklin Jameson, David Maydole Matteson, Samuel Eliot Morison, Elwin L. Page, Victor Hugo Paltsits, Josiah Harmar Penniman, William H. Richardson, James Alexander Robertson, Ernest Spofford, E. G. Swem, Alexander J. Wall, Charles Cecil Wall, Bernard Wolf Weinberger, and Henry Woodhouse.