The Bodleian Plate

The Bodleian Plate

Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg

Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)

Wren Building (Williamsburg, Va.)

Capitol (Williamsburg, Va.)

Lantern slide featuring a photograph of an engraving made from the Bodleian plate, an 18th-century copperplate discovered at the Bodleian Library that provided crucial visual evidence of the appearance of several public buildings in 18th-century Williamsburg. It is the fourth in a set produced by the Pacific Stereopticon Co. of Los Angeles, California, now defunct, to illustrate the story of Goodwin's dream to restore a portion of Williamsburg, Virginia to its 18th-century appearance as a shrine to early American ideals.

This was one of the most exciting and important discoveries during the initial research carried out by Foundation historians. Mary Goodwin, a cousin of Dr. Goodwin, found this 18th-century copper plate at Oxford University's Bodleian Library. It is thought to have been an illustration created for an unpublished description of Virginia by William Byrd II.

Byrd, William, 1674-1744

Pacific Stereopticon Co.

ca. 1740

Pacific Stereopticon Co. Lantern Slide Collection

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Image

PSC-004

Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Lantern slide

2 x 3 inches