1To George Washington from Joseph Willard, 28 February 1781 (Washington Papers)
By the direction of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, I have the honor of acquainting your Excellency, that Janry 31, 1781, you were elected a member of that literary Body. Your Excellency’s name—a name revered and celebrated, not only in your native land, but through Europe, the Academy considers as giving an additional lusture to this Institution. We doubt, not your Excellency will...
2From George Washington to Joseph Willard, 22 March 1781 (Washington Papers)
I am much indebted to you for announcing my election as a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences—I feel myself particularly honored by this relation to a Society whose efforts to promote useful knowledge will, I am perswaded, acquire them a high reputation in the literary world. I entreat you to present my warmest acknowledgements to that respectable body and to assure them that I...