The Burroughs Diaries & the Secretary Desk

April 14 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

| $5.00

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A lecture presented by Marietta House Museum & Prince George’s County Historical Society

 RESCHEDULED  to April 14th from January 28th due to snow 

Please join Historian Susan Pearl, and Art Historian Lynn Roberts, Thursday, April 14th, 2016 7pm. at Marietta House Museum, for a lecture and discussion of

The Burroughs Diaries and the Secretary Desk. $5/person; 5 & under free.

 

Several years ago, the Prince George’s County Historical Society purchased a Victorian period desk that had belonged to John William Burroughs ofWaverly, near Croom in Prince George’s County. Just as exciting as the desk was the fact that in its hidden compartment were three diaries, written by Mr. Burroughs in 1861, 1862, and 1863.   The three diaries, presently being transcribed and edited by Society historian Susan G. Pearl, are full of daily records of the life and work of a planter during three tumultuous years of the Civil War. Mr. Burroughs recorded his everyday tasks as a farmer, his dealings with the slaves who worked his small plantation, his duties as a Vestryman at St. Thomas’ Church, Croom, and his regular travels to Upper Marlborough to purchase necessities and to learn news of the war. Amidst the horrors of war and Burroughs’ strong Confederate sympathies are very interesting accounts, such as the description of his travels by carriage, train, and steamboat, to visit with Jefferson Davis in Montgomery, Alabama; his reactions to the Emancipation Proclamation; and also quieter moments with his wife and his four young children.

 

Join others at Marietta on January 28th to learn about the beautiful desk, a secretaire abbatant (or drop-front secretary desk), from decorative arts expert

Lynn S. Roberts, and about the Burroughs diaries from historian Susan G. Pearl, both members of the PGCHS Board of Directors.

 

Marietta is located at 5626 Bell Station Road, Glenn Dale, MD  20769.  Ph:  301-464-5291

 

Marietta is a property of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.