Mount Vernon opens library dedicated to first president

First president facts

— Born: Feb. 22, 1732

— Died: Dec. 14, 1799

— Married Martha Dandridge Custis Washington in 1759.

— Inherited 10 slaves from his father when he was just 11 years old. By the end of Washington’s life, over 300 African American slaves lived in bondage at Mount Vernon.

— Inherited Mount Vernon in 1761.

— General of the Continental Army: June 15, 1775 to December 23, 1783.

— President of the U.S.: April 30, 1787 to March 4, 1997.

— Known as an energetic and excellent dancer.

— Suffered from dental problems all his adult life and had wooden false teeth.

— As the president of the Constitutional Convention, Washington was permitted to be the first to sign the Constitution.

— Only U.S. president who did not occupy the White House.

— Operated the largest distillery in America at its time.

— Buried at Mount Vernon.

Source: mountvernon.org

George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate on Friday formally opened a new $47 million library dedicated to the study of America’s first president, with plans to host a series of scholars who will examine the lives of Washington and the Founding Fathers.

And if those scholars occasionally knock Washington off his lofty perch as the flawless Father of Our Country, that’s OK by Mount Vernon.

Since 1853, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association has been dedicated to preserving and promoting Washington’s legacy. But with Friday’s opening of The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, Mount Vernon is committing itself to sponsoring a formal level of scholarship about Washington, and Mount Vernon officials say they have no intention of insisting on a glossy interpretation.

“There is this vision of Washington as a man on a pedestal,” said Curt Viebranz, Mount Vernon’s president and CEO. “I actually think if you take him down off the pedestal, it’s an even more compelling story. We’re not going to try to control the message.”

The library’s director, Douglas Bradburn, said there is a neo-Progressive trend among historians now who may be more likely to look at the American Revolution through perhaps a more cynical lens, resurrecting arguments from a century ago that Washington and the other Founding Fathers were motivated more out of securing their own economic interests than by any lofty notions of liberty and self-governance.

Bradburn said the beauty of a library like Mount Vernon’s is that historians and researchers from different schools of interpretation can come together, collaborate and commiserate.

Sandra Moats, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside who will be one of the first seven visiting scholars at the estate, will research Washington and the advent of American neutrality after the Revolution.

She said she is looking forward to delving “into the nitty-gritty policy in the way a historian would with any president.” She expects her work will be neither critical nor glowing, but more of a straightforward examination.

One reason he hasn’t been subjected to a lot of scholarly criticism, she said: Washington did a pretty good job.

“He’s not someone with a lot of scandals or problems. He’s not someone where I’m expecting to find a lot of skeletons,” she said.

The library also gives Mount Vernon an opportunity to host seminars and retreats for political and military leaders and others who want to understand Washington’s values. Mount Vernon has often hosted small gatherings like these, but it never had the facilities to accommodate such meetings as it would have liked until now.

At Friday’s dedication, historian David McCullough called Mount Vernon one of the most interesting and important historical sites in the world.