Scope and Contents The collection contains correspondence between Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis Lewis and Elizabeth Bordley Gibson, and their family and friends. The bulk of the letters were written by Nelly to Elizabeth, and their content provides insight into Nelly’s personal thoughts on society, politics, and family matters beginning in her adolescent years and continuing to a year before her death. Letters largely concern Nelly’s private life including: births, deaths, and marriages of her children and...

Scope and Contents This collection was originally assembled by Esther Maria Lewis Chapin, who inherited some of the Washington and Custis papers but was also an avid collector. She reassembled family materials that were being dispersed nationwide, much of which was purchased at Anderson Galleries, sale 22001, 28-29 November 1927.The collection contains correspondence, legal documents, and financial records related primarily to the Custis and Lewis families. It includes several George Washington...