Abigail Adams Letter Found in Drawer

Wednesday, 15 June 2011 | by Pat's Picks

Sometimes it pays to clean your desk. A lawyer in Boston discovered a long lost letter written by Abigail Adams in 1788 while sifting through some old papers in his mother’s desk. Both Abigail and John Adams were prolific letter writers and their correspondence has illuminated what life was like during the Revolutionary War says the Boston Globe. In the latest installment, Adams writes to her uncle about politics just days before leaving London for the US, where her husband would become George Washington’s vice president. She also puts forth directions to “pay the Freight and all other charges’’ for a shipment of sherry wine.

The Massachusetts Historical Society has an enormous archive of Adams correspondence online.