Place of Origin

United States ➔ Virginia

Date of Composition

1777-1791

Description

Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress. He kept this 434-page record book from the summer of 1777 until the end 1791. It contains journal entries interspersed with commonplaces, to-do and shopping lists, and accounts. Some culinary and medical recipes are included.

Some brief journal entries cover Lee's political activities between 1777 and 1791. For example, the entry of February 19, 1779 reads: "Look for & send Dr. Franklins letter to Mr. Mazzei to Mr. Blair in Wibly also send Mr. Jefferson the song & receipt for rolls." The accounts include sales, purchases, receipts, and travel expenses (including those incurred during his trips to Baltimore, York, and Philadelphia to attend the Second Continental Congress). There are also plantation records, particularly for Chantilly and Stratford Hall (Lee's childhood home), which include the sale and hiring out of enslaved persons.