Anna Maria Brodeau Thornton Papers

Anna Maria Brodeau Thornton (circa 1775-1865) was married to William Thornton, the original architect of the Capitol building, one of the commissioners appointed to plan Washington, and the first superintendent of patents. The Thorntons moved to Washington from William Thornton’s native Tortola in 1792 and remained there for the rest of their lives. In Washington they were at the center of a social circle that included George and Martha Washington, James and Dolley Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Margaret Bayard Smith, and the cabinet members, congressmen, and diplomats who constituted the city’s entwined social and political worlds. Thornton’s papers consist of seven volumes of diaries dating from 1793 to 1861. She begins her diary at age eighteen and ends at age eighty-six. The diaries document the operation of her household, including the management of enslaved individuals; her reading; Washington, D.C. under construction; visits to Mount Vernon, Monticello, and Montpelier; the British attack on Washington during the War of 1812; and the networks of visiting and social events, including presidential “levees,” through which the wives of Washington’s leaders observed and influenced political power in the capital city.