BIB_ID
270651
Accession number
MA 6435.2
Display Date
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, circa 1794.
Description
1 item (1 sheet) ; 46.3 x 38.5 cm
Notes
Attributed papermaker as Henry Scheetz and tentative date of manufacture from Bidwell.
Black leaf of George Washington's writing paper with his personal watermark conveying his unique role in shaping America's early democratic roots.
"The WASHINGTON watermark is only tentatively attributed to Scheetz by Gravell & Miller, who also mention the possibility that it could have been made for a member of the Levis family: One could easily imagine that the president would have been presented with paper specially watermarked with his name and with patriotic insignia. It is possible that this paper was custom-made for a letterpress copying device employed by Washington as early as 1794"--Cf. Bidwell.
"According to the records and accounts kept from Washington by Tobias Lear ... a Mr. Levis was paid in November 1792 for paper he manufactured for Washington. There were papermakers named Levis in Delaware County, Pennsylvania about that time ... and a Levis ran a stationary store in Philadelphia. This special watermark also occurs on some of the pages of the letter books (records of letters sent) of Washington's private secretary, Tobias Lear. The paper--a heavy ledger stock--also bears on the other half of the sheet the watermark 'H S / SANDY RUN.' This indicates that this paper was made by Henry Schütz of Sandy Run, Mill Creek, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, toward the end of the 18th century. ... Henry Schütz might have been one of the makers of Washington's special watermarked paper"--Cf. Gravell, Miller, & Walsh.
Watermark: central figure of Liberty leaning on a plow, holding a liberty pole with a cap aloft, encircled by the lettering of "GEORGE WASHINGTON" surmounted by a griffin.
From Whitman's "Washington's Monument" (MA 931).
Black leaf of George Washington's writing paper with his personal watermark conveying his unique role in shaping America's early democratic roots.
"The WASHINGTON watermark is only tentatively attributed to Scheetz by Gravell & Miller, who also mention the possibility that it could have been made for a member of the Levis family: One could easily imagine that the president would have been presented with paper specially watermarked with his name and with patriotic insignia. It is possible that this paper was custom-made for a letterpress copying device employed by Washington as early as 1794"--Cf. Bidwell.
"According to the records and accounts kept from Washington by Tobias Lear ... a Mr. Levis was paid in November 1792 for paper he manufactured for Washington. There were papermakers named Levis in Delaware County, Pennsylvania about that time ... and a Levis ran a stationary store in Philadelphia. This special watermark also occurs on some of the pages of the letter books (records of letters sent) of Washington's private secretary, Tobias Lear. The paper--a heavy ledger stock--also bears on the other half of the sheet the watermark 'H S / SANDY RUN.' This indicates that this paper was made by Henry Schütz of Sandy Run, Mill Creek, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, toward the end of the 18th century. ... Henry Schütz might have been one of the makers of Washington's special watermarked paper"--Cf. Gravell, Miller, & Walsh.
Watermark: central figure of Liberty leaning on a plow, holding a liberty pole with a cap aloft, encircled by the lettering of "GEORGE WASHINGTON" surmounted by a griffin.
From Whitman's "Washington's Monument" (MA 931).
Provenance
George Washington.
Catalog link
Department