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Tudor Place Collection & Archive
The Tudor Place Archive consists of approximately 250,000 items of the personal papers of the Peter family from the mid-18th century to 1983. It includes correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, financial records, inventories, blueprints, architectural drawings and ephemera – covering topics related to the Custis-Peter family and its collateral branches, the property from the 1790s to the present, and the social and economic history of Georgetown and Washington DC. A collection of 5,000 books from the 18th through 20th centuries and mid-19th century photographs complete this rare resource.
Online Database
We encourage the use of the archives and its materials by researchers and scholars. Access our online database to see thousands of objects and ephemeral material in the Tudor Place Collection & Archive. Updates are continually made so be sure to check back frequently.
Research Appointments
Tudor Place welcomes scholars, researchers and writers interested in the history of the Peter family, the enslaved and free people that worked and lived here and DC history of the 18th through 20th centuries. To book an on-site appointment, contact collections@tudorplace.org or call 202-965-0400. Click here for information on our current health & safety guidelines.
Archival Boxes & Volumes in the Tudor Place Archive:
MS-1. Robert Peter (1726-1806) Papers -- 1 linear foot
Robert Peter was the father of Thomas Peter. The correspondence, subject files, and financial and legal documents in this collection relate almost exclusively to real estate transactions made by Robert Peter, the first mayor of Georgetown, and the settlement of his estate. The material spans the years 1746-1814 and is fragmentary.
Click here for MS-1 Finding Aid.
MS-2. Thomas (1769-1834) and Martha Custis Peter (1777-1854) Papers -- 1 linear foot
Martha Parke Custis Peter was a granddaughter of Martha Washington. She married Thomas Peter in 1795 and they purchased the Tudor Place property in 1805. These papers consist of correspondence, subject files, and financial and legal documents, which deal with the financial transactions of Thomas Peter. The material spans the period 1796-1848 and is highly fragmentary. Highlights include: business correspondence with George Washington; information on Thomas Peter’s land holdings; the purchase of the Tudor Place property; and a list of the slaves Martha Custis Peter brought to the marriage as part of her dowry.
Click here for MS-2 Finding Aid.
MS-3. Martha Washington (1731-1802) Papers -- 0.5 linear foot
Martha Washington was the paternal grandmother of Martha Parke Custis Peter. The material in this collection spans 1770-1811, and includes letters of condolence sent to Martha Washington following George Washington’s death, as well as other documents relating to the settlement of his estate and the 1802 settlement of her estate. Included in this collection is one of the two known surviving letters from George to Martha Washington, written on June 18, 1775 as he assumed command of the Continental Army.
Click here for MS-3 Finding Aid.
MS-4. Major George Peter (1779-1861) Papers -- 1 linear foot
Major George Peter was the younger brother of Thomas Peter. He served with distinction during the War of 1812 and later won election to the United States House of Representatives for three non-consecutive terms. These papers include correspondence, subject files, legal and financial documents, and printed material ranging in date from 1800-1854, and therefore provide a record of the activities of Major George Peter, resident of Georgetown and Montgomery County, MD. This collection includes papers related to his military career from 1800-1809 when he served with General James Wilkinson, his service in Congress, and his land holdings in Montgomery County.
Click here for MS-4 Finding Aid.
MS-5. Custis-Lee Family Papers -- 0.5 linear foot
This material from 1801-1857 consists chiefly of correspondence and other documents written by and relating to George Washington Parke Custis, a grandson of Martha Washington and brother of Martha Peter. Members of the family of Robert E. Lee family are also represented.
Click here for MS-5 Finding Aid.
MS-6. Martha Custis Williams Carter (1827-1899) Papers -- 2.5 linear feet
A granddaughter of Thomas and Martha Peter, Martha “Markie” Custis Williams Carter lived for several years at Tudor Place after she and her siblings were orphaned following the death of their parents. This collection holds correspondence, subject files, scrapbook material, and diaries. The diaries of 1852 and 1853 include observations of a young American woman traveling abroad; a brief diary of 1862 mentions war-torn Washington; and a diary of 1878 describes her first year of marriage to Samuel P. Carter. A large portion of this collection relates to Carter’s brother Colonel Laurence Abert Williams’ reinstatement in the U.S. Army; another portion includes information on her brother Captain William Orton Williams of the Confederate Army and his 1863 execution. Martha Custis Williams Carter was the eldest daughter of Captain William G. and America Williams and the wife of Rear Admiral Samuel Powhatan Carter.
Click here for MS-6 Finding Aid.
MS-7. Britannia Wellington Peter Kennon (1815-1911) Papers -- 3 linear feet
Britannia Wellington Peter Kennon was the youngest daughter of Thomas and Martha Peter and the owner of Tudor Place from 1854 until 1911. This collection includes correspondence, subject files, legal and financial documents, and printed materials from 1828-1911. Britannia Kennon was owner of Tudor Place from 1854 to 1911. Of particular interest are household accounts, bills and receipts relating to the management of Tudor Place from 1860-1911, and materials related to the estates of her husband, Commodore Beverley Kennon, and her father, Thomas Peter. Also included are subject files on some community activities in Georgetown and Washington, including lineage societies of which she held membership. The series also contains correspondence between Britannia and her daughter, Martha “Markie” Custis Kennon Peter.
Click here for MS-7 Finding Aid.
MS-8. Commodore Beverley Kennon I (1793-1844) Papers -- 0.3 linear foot
Beverley Kennon was the husband of Britannia Peter Kennon. This collection includes correspondence from 1821-32 with a distant relative, Robert Beverley of Blandfield plantation in Essex County, Virginia, and a manuscript copy of Commodore Kennon’s will that was written just a few weeks before his death in an explosion aboard the USS Princeton on February 28, 1844.
Click here for MS-8 Finding Aid.
MS-9. Captain Beverley Kennon II (1830-1890) Papers -- 0.3 linear foot
Beverley Kennon II was the son of Commodore Beverley Kennon by his first marriage to Elizabeth Dandridge Claiborne. These papers span 1845-96, and contain fragmentary correspondence, legal and financial records, and printed material. They relate to Kennon’s service in the United States Navy and later during the American Civil War with the Confederate Navy and Secret Service and later with the Khedive of Egypt.
Click here for MS-9 Finding Aid.
MS-10. Martha Custis Kennon Peter (1843-1886) Papers -- 0.3 linear foot
Martha “Markie” Kennon Peter was the daughter of Commodore and Britannia Kennon. In 1867, she married her first cousin, once removed, Dr. Armistead Peter. The collection includes fragmentary correspondence and scrapbook material from 1850-1886. Included in the series are letters from her mother Britannia W. Kennon received during the time Martha was away at boarding school as well as correspondence with her husband which provides details about their five children.
Click here for MS-10 Finding Aid.
MS-11. Sarah Law Williams (1837-1912) Papers -- 2.5 linear feet
Sarah Law Williams was the wife of Colonel Laurence Abert Williams (grandson of Thomas and Martha Peter), and the daughter of George Law, a wealthy New York businessman. In 1894, her daughter Anna W. Williams married Armistead Peter Jr. This collection is composed of correspondence, subject files, legal and financial documents, diaries, and ephemera from 1856-1912, and document the life of a wealthy woman who traveled extensively and lived in New York City and in Washington County, NY.
Click here for MS-11 Finding Aid.
MS-12. Colonel Laurence Abert Williams (1833-1879) Papers -- 0.5 linear foot
Colonel Laurence Williams was the son of Captain William G. and America Williams; he was a grandson of Thomas and Martha Peter. This collection includes correspondence, subject files, and printed material from 1842-78 include information on Williams’ education and his 1863 marriage to Sarah “Sallie” Law, and his efforts to be reinstated in the United States Army after the Civil War.
Click here for MS-12 Finding Aid.
MS-13. Dr. Armistead Peter (1840-1902) Papers -- 3 linear feet
Dr. Armistead Peter was a son of Major George Peter. In the spring of 1867, Dr. Peter married his first cousin, once removed, Martha Kennon. He and his wife lived at Tudor Place from 1867 until 1882 and during that time she gave birth to their five children. Their second son Armistead Peter Jr., became owner of Tudor Place in 1911. These papers include correspondence, subject files, and financial records from 1861-1902. Personal material relates to the life of the prominent Georgetown physician and his family, as well as material on the execution of his brother Walter Gibson Peter and cousin William Orton Williams as Confederate spies in 1863 and his travels to Tennessee to retrieve their bodies in 1864. Some materials, including call books and ledgers from Dr. Peter’s medical practice from 1862-97, document his lengthy career in Georgetown.
Click here for MS-13 Finding Aid.
MS-14. Armistead Peter, Jr., (1870-1960) Papers -- 75 linear feet
Armistead Peter Jr. was a son of Dr. Armistead Peter and Martha Kennon Peter. Upon the death of his grandmother Britannia W. Kennon in 1911, Armistead Peter Jr. became owner of Tudor Place and owned the estate until his death in 1960. This large collection holds correspondence, subject files, legal and financial documents, diaries, printed material, and ephemera from 1890-1960. Owner of Tudor Place from 1911 to 1960, Peter’s diaries record everyday life from the 1890s almost to the end of his life. There are extensive records from the renovations of Tudor Place in 1914 and voluminous writings on the genealogy of the Custis and Peter family, reminiscences of his grandmother Britannia Kennon, and notes on objects in the Tudor Place collection. The development of the garden is also documented.
Click here for MS-14 Finding Aid.
MS-15. Augustine Haines (ca. 1810-ca. 1875) Papers -- 2.5 linear feet
Augustine Haines was the father of George Augustine Haines, and father-in-law of Josephine Law May Haines. George A. Haines bequeathed his entire estate to his late wife’s niece, Mrs. Armistead Peter Jr. in 1915. These papers are composed of correspondence and subject files from 1809-67. Haines was a resident of Portland, Maine, and an agent for the Laconia Textile Mills.
Click here for MS-15 Finding Aid.
MS-16. Josephine Law May Haines (1834-1899) Papers -- 2 linear feet.
Josephine Law May Haines was the aunt of Anna W. Peter (Mrs. Armistead Peter Jr.). This collection consists of correspondence, subject files, legal and financial documents, and printed material from 1877-1901, and document the life of a sophisticated and wealthy American heiress in Europe, especially at her home, Villa Maria, on Lake Como, Italy. Some material relates to the settlement of the estate of her millionaire father, George Law, an influential American transportation entrepreneur who lived in New York City and Cambridge, NY. Josephine’s first husband, Colonel Charles May died in 1862 and after a widowhood of more than thirty years during which she travelled extensively, she married George Augustine Haines in 1895.
Click here for MS-16 Finding Aid.
MS-17. George Augustine Haines (1843-1915) Papers -- 13.5 linear feet
George Haines was the second husband of Josephine Law May Haines. These papers include correspondence from 1871-1914, subject files from 1894-1913, and legal and financial documents from 1897-1914. George Haines was active in stock market dealings; he dealt with important financiers of his time. The bulk of the material concerns renovations to Villa Maria, the house he and his wife owned on Italy’s Lake Como, and includes scrapbook material, sketches, postcards, and ephemera. When he died in 1915, he left the bulk of his estate including the villa in Italy to his late wife’s niece, Anna W. Peter.
Click here for MS-17 Finding Aid
MS-18. Anna Williams Peter (1872-1961) Papers -- 8 linear feet
Anna Williams Peter was the wife of Armistead Peter, Jr., and the daughter of Colonel Laurence Williams. Her son Armistead Peter 3rd was owner of Tudor Place from 1960 until 1983. This collection holds correspondence, subject files, legal and financial documents, printed material, and ephemera from 1893-1961. The material, which is fragmentary after 1923, documents the daily life of a wealthy woman in New York and Washington, DC, in the late 19th and early 20th century. Records of servants and their wages document the social and economic conditions of the time. Following her separation from Armistead Peter Jr. in 1923, Mrs. Peter split her time between New York City and several successive estates in Westchester County, New York.
Click here for MS-18 Finding Aid
MS-19. Paul Wayland Bartlett (1865-1925) Papers -- 8 linear feet
Paul Wayland Bartlett was the stepfather of Caroline Ogden-Jones Peter (Mrs. Armistead Peter 3rd). These papers complement the collection of Bartlett Papers at the Library of Congress, and relates to various sculpture commissions by Bartlett and exhibitions of his work. The correspondence from 1887-1925 documents the personal and professional life of an American sculptor who worked in Paris and Washington. Bartlett’s commissions of note include a monumental equestrian statue of Lafayette in Paris, a pediment on the United States Capitol, and proposed Washington, DC, monuments that were never realized. Other materials, including drawings, photos, bills for casting and supplies, and printed material, record many aspects of the career of this artist.
Click here for MS-19 Finding Aid
MS-20. Suzanne Earle Ogden-Jones Emmons Bartlett (1861-1954) Papers -- 5 linear feet
Suzanne Earle Ogden-Jones Emmons Bartlett was the mother of Caroline Ogden-Jones Peter (Mrs. Armistead Peter 3rd). This collection includes correspondence, photographs, and other materials important to the study of her husband, sculptor Paul Wayland Bartlett’s work, and the disposition of his estate, both financial and artistic. Additional correspondence and other materials document Suzanne Bartlett’s life in Washington, DC, New York, and France during the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century. Mrs. Bartlett was married three times: to Mahlon Ogden-Jones from 1890 until his death in 1900, to Samuel Franklin Emmons from 1903 to 1911, and to Paul Wayland Bartlett from 1913 until his death in 1925. The collection includes correspondence with numerous family members as well as artistic friends and acquaintances including James McNeil Whistler and Cecilia Beaux.
Click here for MS-20 Finding Aid
MS-21. Armistead Peter 3rd (1896-1983) Papers -- 100 linear feet
Armistead Peter 3rd was the owner of Tudor Place from 1960-83. This collection holds correspondence and subject files from 1899-1983. This material is extensive regarding house and garden restoration projects, Peter’s work on his book Tudor Place (1969), and the establishment of the Carostead Foundation (its name was later changed to the Tudor Place Foundation). Financial records here are important in recording purchases for antiques and other items for the household, clothing, repairs and renovations of the house, expenses of daily life, and records of servants. The financial records of Armistead Peter Jr., from the 1920s onward are also included here, as Armistead Peter 3rd took over the management of Tudor Place from his father. Material also documents his career in the U.S. Navy during World Wars I and II, and his artistic career.
Click here for MS-21 Finding Aid
MS-22. Caroline Ogden-Jones Peter (1894-1965) Papers -- 15 linear feet
Caroline Peter was the first wife of Armistead Peter 3rd, last owner of Tudor Place. She was also the stepdaughter of sculptor Paul Wayland Bartlett. The collection holds correspondence related to Caroline’s education and later service as a Red Cross Nurse during World War I and later during World War II. Beside household accounts and personal correspondence relating to life at Tudor Place and the family’s New York farm, these papers include correspondence and receipts from the year that she and Armistead Peter 3rd resided in Paris France in 1921-1922. The collection also includes correspondence and records from Caroline’s project to distribute examples of Paul Wayland Bartlett’s works to museums throughout the United States in the 1950s and 1960s.
Click here for MS-22 Finding Aid
MS-23. Anne Custis Peter Pearre (1922-1985) Papers -- 15 linear feet
Anne Custis Peter Pearre was the daughter of Armistead Peter 3rd and his wife Caroline Ogden-Jones. This collection includes personal correspondence, literary manuscripts, artwork, academic papers and records, financial documents, and scrapbook and printed materials dating from her birth in Paris in 1922 to her marriage in 1953. The bulk of the collection is composed of correspondence from family members (1941-52) and academic papers (1929-44). Special subject files include education and social events.
Click here for MS-23 Finding Aid
MS-24. Helen Tucker Peter (1900-1995) Papers -- 1 linear foot
Helen (Tucker) Andrews Macondray Peter, the second wife of Armistead Peter 3rd (1896-1983), resided with him at Tudor Place. She was vice-president of the Tudor Place Foundation, Inc., among numerous other memberships in and around the District of Columbia. Her papers consist of a photograph and slide album documenting her early childhood, debutante years, her first and second husbands Eliphalet Fraser Andrews, Junior, and Rear Admiral Atherton Macondray, her marriage to Armistead Peter 3rd of Tudor Place and Content Farms, Cambridge, New York, and travels abroad.
Click here for MS-24 Finding Aid
MS-25. Gifts & Purchases -- 15 linear feet
This manuscript series consists of gifts made to the archival collection as well as purchases made by Tudor Place Foundation, Inc. since 1988. Major subseries include music scores, newspaper clippings, magazines and journals, and correspondence by or about Tudor Place and those associated with it. A significant subseries is the papers of Marietta Minnigerode Andrews (1869-1931), an artist of various mediums who is particularly well known for her illustrations and silhouettes. Materials related to the Carter, Upshur, Brown, and Massie branches of the Peter family can also be found in this manuscript series.
Click here for MS-25 Finding Aid
MS-26. Oral History Project -- 2 1/2 linear feet
The Tudor Place Foundation Oral History Project is a collection of 55 tapes from 40 different people from the years 1991-1994 and 2004, containing information about Tudor Place the house and the Peter Family. Most tapes are transcribed and digitized.
Click here for MS-26 Finding Aid
Photograph Collection -- 50 linear feet
This extensive collection dates from the 1840s to 1984. It includes daguerreotypes, glass plates, cartes de visite, studio photos, black and white 20th-century prints, color slides, and home movies, and documents family members, family activities and travel both in the United States and abroad, domestic help, residences both interior and exterior, and the garden.
