Don't you just love reading other people's mail? Yes, I know it's something the USPS frowns on, but if the letter is 166 years old don't you think it's okay?

I am fascinated by old manuscripts, letters and ledgers as they give us much insight into the lifestyles of generations past. As a bit of a scientist myself, I was thrilled to obtain this very old letter, which is a kind of 1844 scientific shopping list for the "new" Leesburg Academy. By clicking on the letter's image above you can go to a page with a much larger image and a full transcription.

Mary Fishback, in an article she wrote for the Loudoun Times-Mirror on Oct. 17, 1990; tells us that one Professor McGruffy of the University of Virginia visited Leesburg in 1836 while traveling through Virginia promoting higher education. Ms. Fishback writes, "He aroused so much enthusiasm in the town that a $10,000 dollar lottery was organized, half of which was used to construct a system of water works and the other to erect a four-room academy east of the court house on Market Street."  That fine building would be the Leesburg Academy's hallmark during the institution's long service to Leesburg, 1799-1879.

The Academy's heady times were indeed in the early-to-mid 1840's as the Academy trustees moved forward to build and supply a new building with their windfall. We are fortunate that the Balch Library has the actual Leesburg Academy minutes book from 1833-1860. Here are some key notations from the time period during which Mr. Hunter wrote his letter from Philadelphia:

July 31, 1843 ~ A building committee is approved to proceed with erecting a new building and purchasing a lot, which itself is not to exceed $1000.

January 2, 1844 ~ Mr. William H. Hunter (the author of our letter to Academy trustee Dr. George Lee) is hired as an English teacher. The board also proceeds to set tuition rates for various courses of study including Navigation, Mechanics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Geography and Astronomy.

March 6, 1844 ~ the board approves the purchase of 25,000 more brick.

July 5, 1844 ~ Teachers Converse and Hunter are to create plans on how to organize the Academy.

July 10, 1844 ~ Reports by Converse and Hunter referred to a committee which includes Dr. Lee.

July 12, 1844 ~ The committee (of July 10) submits their report to the board which accepts it.

Oct 31, 1844 ~ The building committee is approved to borrow $1500 to finish the new building.

There is no mention in the minutes at all regarding the approval of Mr. Hunter's trip to Philadelphia or that the equipment he lists was ever approved. In fact, the next time Mr. Hunter is mentioned is when he is fired on Aug 12, 1845. Apparently, per the board minutes from that day, he could not keep discipline in the classroom (math may have also been an issue ~ if you add up the equipment list on the letter, the total is $674, not the $574 he arrives at).

But life at the Academy would move on without Mr. Hunter. In the "Loudoun Chronicle (published in Leesburg) on November 27, 1846 they would write that William B. Benedict had been installed as Principal (he had just finished four years as Professor of Mathematics in the United States Navy) and John Wildman as Assistant Teacher.

They would also write "By means of the endowment by which this Institution has received from the Legislature of this State, the Trustees have been able to procure apparatus adequate to successful instruction in the studies of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry. This Academy therefore promises a Course of Education in the Classics, Mathematics, and Natural Sciences, thorough and of a high grade."

Perhaps Mr. Hunter's trip to Philadelphia had been successful after all.