Amy Grant and Vince Gill (Photo by Alexander Morosov)
The New Library (Photo by Alexander Morosov) WL EXCLUSIVE
Melody Sawyer
GEORGE WASHINGTON LIBRARY GRAND OPENING Mount Vernon Estate | PHOTOS BY KYLE SAMPERTON
Jon and Mary Kaye Huntsman with Jon Hunstman Sr.
FINAL WISH: George Washington had cities, monuments and museums erected in his honor, but history’s “Indispensable Man” had no presidential library until last month. His wri%en desire in 1797 for a home for his military, civil and private papers, “which are voluminous and may be interesting,” is now fulfilled, 216 years later. Donors coalesced to raise $106 million for the project, led by $70 million in gi s from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, FedEx Founder Fred W. Smith and the Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein and the 45,000-square-foot Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington is now open to scholars. On the eve of its dedication, 1,000 major donors were invited by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association and President/CEO Curt Viebranz to dine and dance under the stars, enjoy fireworks and hear a keynote speech by David McCullough. “His autobiography is not on paper,“ the noted biographer of America’s first president told the crowd. “His autobiography is in this place.”
Ross and Margot Perot
VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM
Curtis Viebranz and Cokie Roberts
Hunt and Molly Burke
Alpha Blackburn and Gay Gaines
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
| N O V E M B E R | washingtonlife.com
Major and Pamela Reynolds
David McCullough
37