It's a book about parties in the 1780s. I actually think the bigger finds are the letters that they came across in the same search.
The recent search of the archives has already turned up several other gems that librarians didn't know were there.
They include two letters written by Alexander Hamilton and a unique third letter written by John Marshall, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, to South Carolinian Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who helped draft the Constitution.
"It was written the day that Thomas Jefferson was sworn in (as president)," Kometer said. "John Marshall was the one who actually swore him in. He started a letter to Charles Coatesworth Pinckney in the morning and then he took a break and came back at 4 o'clock to finish the letter and said I have just administered the oath."
I don't have much of an interest in party etiquette, but a letter from Chief Justice John Marshall to Charles Pinckney would be pretty cool to see. I hope they will put the letters on display. I wonder what else is just laying around in the vault. It kind of reminds me of the last scene from "Raiders of the Lost Ark". I'm sure some "top men" put those letters in that vault.
Cool!
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