Financial records, 1815-1842

The collection includes correspondence, financial records, minute books, visitors' books, drawings, contracts, maps.

The collection is especially rich in correspondence. There are numerous folders of letters from Robert Mills, which span the years 1814 (when Mills submitted his winning plan for the Monument) to 1839 when the work was virtually complete. Mills’ letters, written frequently and at great length, form an invaluable corpus of information regarding the progress of work on the Monument (including changes in its design necessitated by financial stringencies) as well as providing an autobiographical account of Mills’ other architectural commissions and his own impecunious state.

From 1825 the Board of Managers submitted annual reports to the Treasurer of the Western Shore in which the Board summarized the progress of work, presented the accounts and estimated the amount of work and money required for the following year. The collection includes eight folders of correspondence and reports exchanged between the Board and the Western Shore Treasury during the years 1825-1843.

The numerous invoices, receipts, accounts, bills etc. in Box 4 amply document the expenses incurred during the construction of the Monument.

Mills’ original drawings of his plan for the Monument may be found in Box 3 and his `studies for the surmounting of the Washington Monument Column' with numerous sketches of the inscriptions and proposed trophies are inserted in the volume `Rejected Designs of the Washington Monument.' located in 3 oversize folders.

Principal correspondents include Robert Mills, Robert Gilmor, Jr., Enrico Causici, William Steuart, David Winchester and George MacKubin.