University of Virginia Library

LBJ Named Leader Of Group
To Compile Washington Papers

A former president of the
United States, a descendant of the
Marquis de Lafayette and a member
of the British House of Commons
have been named to an advisory
committee to "The Papers of
George Washington" being compiled
and edited at the University.

Lyndon Baines Johnson will
serve as chairman of the committee
of 25 distinguished historians,
writers, editors, librarians, archivists
and men in public life. Count Rene
de Chambrun, a lawyer from Paris,
France, and a descendant of
Lafayette, and the Honorable Esmond
Wright, member of the
British House of Commons and
author of a biography of George
Washington are the two European
representatives on the committee.

Begun in the fall of 1968, the
project of gathering, editing and
publishing the first complete edition
of the papers of George
Washington is expected to take 20
years. The anticipated 60 to 75
volumes will be published by the
University Press.

"The Advisory committee will
serve as a policy-making body and
will provide valuable counsel to the
editorial staff," said Dr. Donald
Jackson, editor of the Washington
papers.

The members of the committee
were selected by administrators at
the University and the Mount
Vernon Ladies' Association of the
Union which is co-sponsoring the
editing project.

"We tried to get a board
geographical distribution among the
members, keeping in mind that
Washington belongs to the entire
nation, not just to the Eastern
seaboard and the scenes of the
American Revolution," said Dr.
Jackson.

Other members of the committee
are John Alden, professor of
history, Duke University; C. Waller
Barrett of Charlottesville, a Bibliographer;
Mrs. Francis F. Beirne,
former regent of the Mount Vernon
Ladies' Association; Julian P.
Boyd, editor of "The Papers of
Thomas Jefferson," Princeton University
and director of the National
Historical Publications Commission;
James T. Flexner of New York, a
biographer of Washington, and
Carlisle H. Humelsine, president of
Colonial Williamsburg.

Also on the committee are Merrill
Jensen, professor of history, University
of Wisconsin; Bernhard
Knollenberg of Chester, Conn., a
Washington Scholar; Wilmarth S.
Lewis, editor of "The Yale Edition
of Horace Walpole's Correspondence;"
Lewis A. McMurran Jr.,
Virginia House of Delegates; John
O. Marsh Jr., Democratic representative
to the U.S. House of
Representatives from Virginia's 7th
District, and Charles McC. Mathias
Jr., Republican United States Senator
from Maryland.

Also, L. Quincy Mumford, Librarian
of Congress; Merrill D.
Paterson, professor of history, the
University; Saunders Redding, professor
of history, George Washington
University; James B. Rhoads,
archivist of the United States;
and Lawrence W. Towner, director
and librarian, Newberry Library,
Chicago.