Volumes of George Washington's papers now available online

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) _ A 37-volume collection of George Washington's papers is now available online, giving unprecedented access to the Founding Father's personal documents and correspondence.

Monday, December 2nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) _ A 37-volume collection of George Washington's papers is now available online, giving unprecedented access to the Founding Father's personal documents and correspondence.

More than 17,400 papers in John C. Fitzpatrick's ``The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799'' were recently posted on the University of Virginia's Electronic Text Center, a searchable Web-based database.

The papers describe everything from weighty political matters during the American Revolution to squabbles over the ranks Washington assigned to members of his army. They were written over a period contemporary with the French and Indian War, the Continental Congress and Washington's presidency.

``This provides a venue for a much larger audience, and the searchability provides the power of this database,'' said Matt Gibson, associate director of the E-Text Center.

The letters help paint a portrait of one of America's most revered leaders.

``His personality comes through, I think, on every page,'' said Frank Grizzard, senior associate editor with the Papers of George Washington documentary project. ``Washington was a very effective communicator, a very good writer. He didn't write in sound bites, even in the sense that Jefferson and Franklin did. He doesn't have a lot of flowery quotes and quips, but is a practical writer.''