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250 Years Ago News @250yearsagonews.bsky.social · 11h

Oct. 15, 1775: Edmund Pendleton, the president of the Virginia Safety Committee, reports that the colony has raised and outfitted nine companies of militia. "Lord Dunmore,” he writes, referring to the royal governor, "is much afraid of the rifleman, and has all his vessels caulked up on the sides."

Dunmore leaving Norfolk for the safety of the warship Fowey earlier in 1775

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · 6h

Wythepedia Investigates: The Case of George Wythe's Cufflinks. 🔎 Is there a pair of cufflinks which belonged to a Founding Father in a secret drawer in the W&M President's house? Did George Wythe wear shirts with French cuffs? Stay tuned! digital.libraries.wm.edu/node/347859 #WytheWednesday

Joy Hutzel, "President's House Has Enchanting Past." 'Flat Hat,' March 26, 1964, p. 11:

"In the same room stands an American walnut Chippendale secretary bookcase, made about 1770. A secret drawer still contains an ancient pair of cuff links; the initials "GW" on them lead to the conclusion that they belonged to either George Washington or, more likely, George Wythe."

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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 1d

When people tell you that founders as enslavers was something we should see "in the context of their time." Great piece fr @katytelling.bsky.social abt a wealthy 18hc Virginian (and there were others) who thought Washington and co. risked their honor and more. ageofrevolutions.com/2025/10/13/a...

A Great Reputation Among Men: Race and Contested Masculinities in the Early American Republic

By Kathleen Telling In 1785, Robert Pleasants, a wealthy tobacco planter, abolitionist, and prominent member of Henrico County’s Quaker community, penned a letter to Virginia’s most famous son, Geo…

ageofrevolutions.com

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · 7d

The author of the 1922 article was Robert Beverley Munford, Jr., the great-grandson of William Munford, one of George Wythe's pupils. "Bob" Munford was a long-time obituary editor for the Richmond 'News Leader': www.virginiachronicle.com?a=d&d=RNL195...

Obituary for Robert Beverly Munford, Jr., Richmond 'News Leader, June 25, 1952, p. 10.

The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · 7d

#OTD in 1922, there appeared in the Richmond 'Times-Dispatch' an "Intimate Pen Picture of George Wythe," regretting 'that those who were qualified to produce a complete biography of this learned man and noble character have long since passed away.' wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/In... #WytheWednesday

Robert B. Munford, Jr.'s biographical sketch of Wythe, "Intimate Pen Picture of George Wythe; His Tragic Death," for the Richmond 'Times-Dispatch' (Richmond, VA), October 8, 1922, p. 6.

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · 8d

We have a late addition! "Wythe Urges Virginia to Ratify Constitution":

"Wythe Urges Virginia to Ratify Constitution." June 24, 1788. 1988 U.S. Constitution Bicentennial Covers.

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David M. Green @davidmgreen.bsky.social · 14d

RIP Jane Goodall

The infamous 1987 The Far Side comic strip featuring a reference to Jane Goodall

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · 14d

The library's U.S. Supreme Court Justice bobblehead of John Blair (from 'The Green Bag' collection) is part of our "Nod to the Supreme Court: Books and Bobbles" exhibit, now in the library's Rare Book Room (through March, 2026).

"A Nod to the Supreme Court: Books and Bobbles," in the Wolf Law Library's Nicholas J. St. George Rare Book Room through March, 2026: https://law.wm.edu/library/collections/rarebooks/

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · 14d

This handsome fellow is John Blair, Jr. (1732–1800). Blair was one of six justices appointed by George Washington to the first U.S. Supreme Court in 1789. He served alongside George Wythe as a judge for Virginia's High Court of Chancery from 1780–1788: www.oyez.org/justices/joh... #WytheWednesday

The Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States (Artist: Ruth Koppang): https://www.oyez.org/justices/john_blair

Bobblehead for Justice John Blair (1790; 2013), part of 'The Green Bag' U.S. Supreme Court Justice bobblehead collection: https://www.greenbag.org/bobbleheads/bobbleheads.html

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250 Years Ago News @250yearsagonews.bsky.social · 14d

Oct. 1, 1775: Virginia’s youngest delegate to the Continental Congress, 32-year-old Thomas Jefferson, returns to Philadelphia for the latest session. He boards with cabinetmaker Benjamin Randolph in a house on Chestnut Street.

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · 21d

"'[T]he extreme danger of dissolving the Union' makes ratification of the Constitution imperative." Also new are two envelopes issued in 1988, for the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. Visit our Wythe Ephemera collection in the 1st floor locker lounge, in the library behind the main stairs!

"Wythe's message is clear: 'the extreme danger of dissolving the Union' makes ratification of the Constitution imperative, with amendments to be added later." 1988 U.S. Constitution Covers.

"Wythe Calls for Ratification. Acknowledging a need for future changes, George Wythe urged ratification." 1988 U.S. Constitution Covers.

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · 21d

New George Wythe ephemera! The library has a small collection of commemorative postcards, coins, trading cards, and even a miniature Wythe House. This postcard is from a series celebrating the 1976 bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence: wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Bi... #WytheWednesday

"Wyeth [sic] held the first law professorship." First day cover postcard for June 20, 1985, with a cachet for George Wythe. Signed, "Marika."

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Eric Boo-erg 👻 @lawliberg.bsky.social · 22d

Ruin a band with law

FOIA Fighters

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Aaron Bruhl @aaronbruhl.bsky.social · 23d

I went to the library to get High on Extraordinary Legal Remedies.

Title page of treatise on extraordinary legal remedies by James High.

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · 22d

We have a second copy in our Special Collections, which belonged to Thomas Ball (1836–1917), Texas state senator, assistant Texas attorney general, and special U. S. attorney, who defended the Kiowa war chiefs, Satanta and Big Tree, in 1871. catalog.libraries.wm.edu/permalink/01...

Thomas Ball III: Counsel for defendants, Satanta and Big Tree. Subsequently member Texas Senate; Assistant Attorney General of Texas and Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States. Died, Los Angeles, California, May 11, 1917.

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Holly Brewer @earlymodjustice.bsky.social · 25d

Strongly recommend the “Two Georges” exhibition at the Library of Congress.
It includes original material on loan from the Royal Archives. Here
George III writing in response to the act of association from Congress, September 11, 1774: “The dye is now cast.”

George III to Lord North, his prime minister. September 11, 1774.
In response to the petition from Congress.
“The dye is now cast. The colonists must either submit or triumph.
I do not wish to come to severer measures but we must not retreat…”
Lent by His majesty Charles III to the Library of Congress for the “Two Georges” exhibit. Photo by Holly Brewer 9/19/2025

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · 28d

Here's a profile we recognize! George Wythe, in a catalog for 'Loan Exhibition of Portraits of the Signers and Deputies to the Convention of 1787 and Signers of the Declaration of Independence' (1937). The original is owned by Colonial Williamsburg: wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Lo... #WytheWednesday

Cut silhouette of George Wythe, by Charles Wilson Peale and Moses Williams, c. 1803. Corcoran Gallery of Art, ''Loan Exhibition of Portraits of the Signers and Deputies to the Convention of 1787 and Signers of the Declaration of Independence'' (Washington, D.C.: Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission, 1937), 171. Original at the Colonial Williamsburg Rockefeller Library Special Collections.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · Sep 13

250 YEARS AGO: The Second Continental Congress has a quorum to restart after a short summer break. Georgia has sent a delegation for the first time. Virginia has replaced George Washington and Patrick Henry with Thomas Nelson Jr. and George Wythe (who taught law to Thomas Jefferson).

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · Sep 11

Ah-ha! But here we have a 1754 Wythe letter to Daniel Parke Custis (Martha Washington's first husband), signed fully: "George Wythe."

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250 Years Ago News @250yearsagonews.bsky.social · Sep 9

Sept. 9, 1775: Gen. Washington names Virginia patriot Edmund Randolph as one of his aides-de-camp. Coincidentally this appointment comes a day after Randolph's loyalist father, John, flees Virginia for Britain. Edmund Randolph will go on to be chosen by Washington as the first U.S attorney general.

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · Sep 10

Is this document a clever forgery? 'The only genuine Wythe autograph recalled by the writer to have been signed "George Wythe" (instead of the usual "G. Wythe") is that on the Declaration of Independence, which would be a counterfeiter's most available source.' wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Ge...

Image of Declaration of Independence taken from the engraving made by printer William J. Stone in 1823.

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · Sep 10

#OTD in 1761: George Wythe summons witnesses to appear before him or "some other Justice" for Loudoun County, Virginia, regarding illegal gambling in a tavern. There is no other record of Wythe employed as a justice for Loudoun (established in 1757): wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Or... #WytheWednesday

Catalog listing of "Order to the Sheriff of Loudoun County, 10 September 1761," v. 1, p. 50, The History of America in Documents: Original Autograph Letters, Manuscripts and Source Materials (Philadelphia: The Rosenbach Company, 1949). Wythe was not "Sheriff," as the summary suggests.

Detail of Wythe's signature on the order. In "Rosenbach, A. S. W. (Abraham Simon Wolf), 1876-1952, collector. Signers of the Declaration of Independence," the Rosenbach Museum & Library.

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250 Years Ago News @250yearsagonews.bsky.social · Sep 10

Sept. 10, 1775: A key provision of the Continental Association, the compact among patriots to pressure Britain's government by refusing to export American goods, takes effect across the 13 colonies. 1/3

A copy of the Association signed by Thomas Jefferson

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The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · Sep 3

"[S]ome of the strongest testimony exhibited before the called court and before the grand jury, was kept back from the pettit jury. The reason is, that it was gleaned from the evidence of negroes, which is not permitted by our laws to go against a white man." Richmond 'Enquirer,' September 9, 1806:

Detail from page three of the Richmond 'Enquirer' for September 9, 1806.

The Wolf Law Library @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social · Sep 3

On Sept. 2, 1806, George Wythe Swinney was acquitted of the murders of his great-uncle, George Wythe, and Wythe's freedman protégé, Michael Brown. #OTD, Sept. 3, 1806, Swinney was charged with forgery, but was ultimately acquitted, as well: wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Ex... #WytheWednesday

Engraved portrait George Wythe by J.B. Longacre, from the 'William and Mary Quarterly,' 3rd ser., 12, no. 4 (October 1955), 512.

W. Edwin Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay," 'William and Mary Quarterly' 3rd ser., 12, no. 4 (October 1955), 543-574.

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