Bibframe Work

Correspondence, letterbooks, writings, speeches, reports, minutes, notes, military records, financial and legal documents, family papers, broadsides, and other papers relating chiefly to the marquis's military, political, and private life, as well as to French and American history of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Subjects include Lafayette's involvement in the American Revolution and in the French revolutions of 1789 and 1830, his imprisonment in Prussian and Austrian jails (1792-1797), and his dealings with French and American political figures and with leaders of revolutionary movements in other countries.

Includes Lafayette's annotated draft of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and a holograph manuscript of the secret code used by Lafayette and George Washington during the American Revolution. Also includes papers of the Lafayette (La Fayette) family; records of household activities at the Château de la Grange, where Lafayette lived from 1799 until his death; papers of the Lasteyrie family, descendants of Lafayette who also inhabited the chateau; and papers of the allied Jarnac family

Lafayette's correspondents include John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Simón Bolívar, James Fenimore Cooper, Charles James Fox, Andrew Jackson, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, La Colombe, Louis XVIII, James Madison, James Monroe, Napoleon I, Thomas Paine, Louis-Philippe Ségur, Madame de Staël, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Pèrigord, Martin Van Buren, Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, George Washington, and Martha Washington

Lafayette family papers include those of Lafayette's wife Marie Adrienne de Noailles, marquise de Lafayette; of his children, Anastasie du Motier de La Fayette, comtesse de La Tour-Maubourg; Virginie du Motier de La Fayette, marquise de Lasteyrie du Saillant, and her husband, Louis, marquis de Lasteyrie du Saillant; Georges Washington Louis Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, and his daughter, Natalie Renée Emilie du Motier de La Fayette Périer; and of Lafayette's father, Michel Louis Christophe Roch Gilbert Motier, marquis de La Fayette

Lasteyrie family papers relate chiefly to assistance given to members of King Louis-Philippe's family during the revolution of 1848 by Virginie's son, Adrien-Jules, marquis de Lasteyrie du Saillant, and his wife, Olivia de Rohan-Chabot, marquise de Lasteyrie du Saillant

Jarnac family papers include those of Olivia de Rohan-Chabot's grandfather, Guy-Auguste de Rohan-Chabot, comte de Jarnac, relating to his service in the army of French princes (1792- ); papers of Olivia's father, Louis Charles Guillaume de Rohan-Chabot, comte de Jarnac, pertaining to his career in the British Army; and papers of Olivia's brother, Philippe-Ferdinand-Auguste de Rohan-Chabot, comte de Jarnac, documenting his service as ambassador to England, his mission to retrieve the body of Napoleon from Saint Helena, and a mission to Egypt. His correspondents include François Guizot and Alphonse de Lamartine

Origin Date(s)

1757-1990

Authorized Access Point

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834 Marquis de Lafayette papers

Collection Arrangement

Collection Organization: Arranged by type of material

Admin Metadata

Status: new

Date: 1996-06-19

Agent: United States, Library of Congress

Admin Metadata

Status: changed