Samuel Leavitt's Revolutionary War diary is a text discovered in 2009 in the records of the United States Senate at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.. The diary records the Revolutionary War service of a soldier from Stratham, New Hampshire, which encompassed a three-month tour of duty in which private Leavitt marched from New Hampshire to West Point, New York, encountering General George Washington and learning of the desertion of General Benedict Arnold, both events recounted in the diary. A citizen archivist who chanced upon the diary in the Senate archives was awarded the first Citizen Archivist Award by the National Archives in December 2010, and he was applauded by David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, for the find, who noted that a new wiki had been established for independent researchers to collaborate with professional government archivists as well as to share their discoveries with the public. The discovery of Leavitt's diary, said archivist Ferriero, "proves there are still treasures to find within our records."[1]
- ^ David Ferriero (2010-08-10). "Remarks of Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero as the keynote address at the annual meeting of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. Knoxville, TN".
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