Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Thomas Jefferson, architect : original designs in the collection of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, Junior
Image not available
Rare Books
Image not available
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Manuscripts
The Thomas Jefferson collection contains correspondence and documents; architectural drawings, plans, and surveys; accounts; and notebooks dating from 1764 to 1826. The bulk of the collection is correspondence and includes letters to Jefferson as well as letters from him, which are mostly letterpress and polygraph copies of outgoing letters created by him. Correspondence pertains to Jefferson's political career as governor of Virginia, minister to France, secretary of state, vice president, and president; most letters from his post-presidency concern the founding of the University of Virginia. Also present are numerous letters to various family members, especially daughters Martha Jefferson Randolph and Mary Jefferson Eppes and their husbands Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. and John Wayles Eppes, which discuss family activities, education, travel plans, and health. Many items in this collection relate to Jefferson's properties and estates, especially Monticello and Poplar Forest; letters, documents, and account books concern horticulture, crops and tobacco, and seeds, as well as household expenses, finances, and goods. Several items pertain to or mention slavery and enslaved persons as well as Native Americans—see Scope and Contents notes for more information. The architectural drawings, plans, and surveys in the collection primarily depict land and properties in Virginia, with many representing Monticello and the surrounding area. Architectural drawings also include those created by Jefferson for the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, the Virginia capitol and the city of Richmond, and the Hôtel de Langeac in Paris. Volumes in the collection include account books, a memoranda book, legal case and fee books, and a daybook of market accounts kept by Jefferson's maître d'hôtel Étienne Lemaire during his second presidential term. Also present are parts for Jefferson's polygraph machine.
mssJefferson
Image not available
Manuscripts
One of the two surviving commonplace books that Jefferson kept in 1765. The first volume, known as the Legal Commonplace Book, was begun in 1765. Having made 113 entries, Jefferson he began a separate book for equity law, which in his day was argued in a separate court, the Court of Chancery. The book contains 2018 numbered entries derived from writings of Henry Home, Lord Kames, Matthew Bacon, William Peere Williams, Henry Ballow, and other standard authorities available to equity practitioners of the era.
mssBR 13
Image not available
Manuscripts
Autograph documents. Jefferson accounts with Bank of the U.S., Columbia Bank, John Barnes, William Short, Tadeusz Kościuszko and others. Items include notes, estimates, personal expenses, account balances. (46 items)
HM 5722
Image not available
Manuscripts
Autograph fragments. Items were not assigned call numbers. (3 items)
mssJefferson
Image not available
Manuscripts
Letterpress copy. (1 page)
HM 5625