Renee L. Dauvan wrote:

        I need some help locating a source.  I have a reference to the
"Calendar of Virginia State Papers", Vol. 1, p. 389-391 and 504.  These
are supposed to be letters written by Nathaniel Randolph to then Gov.
Thomas Jefferson.  The were written from "Monongahly" near Fort Pitt
during the Revolution.  Also a letter from George Rogers Clark to
Jefferson stating "I met with Mr. Randolph from Pittsburg...".  Does
anyone know if this source is online and have a URL for it?
        I did find in the LVA Digital Library a Database of
Correspondence to the Governor which matches, at least in part, the
description given above but TIF is very difficult for me to read.  The
place is correct, the date is right but the sender is wrong, although
the letter does mention a Mr. Nathl Randolph.
        So my question is: Are the "Calendar" and the "Correspondence
Database" essentially the same source?  I think that it is the same
letter but can't tell for sure and would like to compare it to the
printed version if possible...and to find the other letter mentioned.
        Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Renee L. Dauven


The answer to the question is, Yes. The abstracts and transcriptions in
the Calendar of Virgina State Papers were made more than 100 years ago
from documents in the archive of Virginia. They are not by any means
perfect.

The digital images on the Library of Virginia's web site were made from
the same source, although it is true that many of the documents are old
and faded or for some other reason difficult to read. The original
documents are in the vault in the Library of Virginia in Richmnd.

The letters to and from Thomas Jefferson while he was governor of
Virginia have also been published in Julien Boyd's Princeton University
Press edition of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, which anybody should be
able to find in any respectable research library.

Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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