Manuscripts
Architectural drawings, plans, surveys
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Thomas Jefferson collection
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
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Correspondence and documents
Manuscripts
This series contains correspondence and documents dating from 1773 to 1826 and pertaining to various aspects of Thomas Jefferson's political career, family life, and interests. Correspondence includes letters to Jefferson as well as letters from him, which are mostly letterpress and polygraph copies of outgoing letters created by him; some of Jefferson's letters are written in the third person. Also present are financial records such as accounts, estimates, bills, and receipts; and some writings, notes, ships' papers, and a trigonometry exercise. Letters written during Jefferson's tenure as governor of Virginia concern state government and military matters. Correspondence from the periods Jefferson served as U.S. minister to France, secretary of state, and vice president of the U.S. primarily relate to foreign relations; letters written by Jefferson while minister to France also concern instructions to consuls, activities in Europe, and his family, including daughter Mary's journey to France. Correspondence from Jefferson's presidency pertain to political parties, activities in Congress, foreign relations and a trade embargo, naval operations, issues of nationalism and sectionalism, the Burr conspiracy, and requests for appointments, pardons, and assistance. Many letters to him are from senders of gifts, publications and writings, and information on products and inventions. Much of Jefferson's post-presidency correspondence concerns the founding of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville with many letters from the school's first proctor Arthur S. Brockenbrough and librarian John V. Kean, among others. This series contains numerous letters from Jefferson to various family members, especially daughters Martha ("Patsy") Jefferson Randolph and Mary ("Maria," "Polly") Jefferson Eppes and their husbands Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. and John Wayles Eppes; some later letters are to grandchildren Francis Wayles Eppes and Anne Cary Randolph. Letters concern family activities, education, travel plans, and health. Many letters and documents in this series pertain to Jefferson's properties and estates, especially Monticello and Poplar Forest, and concern horticulture, crops and tobacco, and seeds, as well as household accounts, finances, and goods. Items also concern his father Peter Jefferson's estate and Virginia properties given to his daughters and their families, including Pantops. Many letters about operations at Monticello were written to the property's overseer Edmund Bacon during Jefferson's presidency while in Washington, D.C. Several Jefferson letters discuss slavery and enslaved persons, who are usually not referred to by name. These include letters to Francis Eppes (1787 July 30), Mary Jefferson Eppes (1798 December 8), Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. (1798 June 14 and 1802 November 25), William A. Burwell (1805 January 28), and Edmund Bacon (1807 December 8). His letter to daughter Mary mentions Lucy, an enslaved woman who had recently given birth. In his letter to William A. Burwell, Jefferson states "I have long since given up the expectation of any early provision for the extinguishment of slavery among us." A number of items in this series relate to Native Americans including Jefferson's memoranda on Virginia history (approximately 1781), which contains a list of local nations with additional statistics and information on locations and alliances; several items regarding missionary efforts in the Ohio Valley (1804 October); a letter from Jefferson to Dog Soldier, who he identifies as the second chief of the Little Osage (1804 July 16); and a letter to Jefferson from John Wood (1805 November 26) proposing funding the education of an unnamed member of the Sac Nation. Letterpress and polygraph copies of Jefferson's outgoing letters are of autograph letters signed unless noted otherwise. Most letterpress copies have been encapsulated.
mssJefferson
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Monticello disaster plan package
Manuscripts
These facsimile copies of drawings by Thomas Jefferson and the architectural drawings for the 1946-1953 restoration of Monticello, along with photographs of furnishings, catalogues, and reports were placed at the Huntington Library by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation for safekeeping in case of disaster or damage to the original material. The collection includes architectural drawings (blue prints), photographs, facsimiles of drawings, and microfilm reels.
mssMonticello
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Working drawings of Monticello furniture and microfilm reels
Manuscripts
Contains: Working drawings of Monticello furniture, mssFAC 781, and four reels of microfilm: 1. "The Preservation of Monticello, 1936-1990," 2. "Field Notes," 3. and 4. Meeting minutes of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc., 1923-1976 (from originals at the University of Virginia.
mssMonticello
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Photocopies of accession cards and inventories; photographs of artwork, silver, china; Great Clock photographs, drawings, and reports; and miscellaneous
Manuscripts
This box contains: Photocopies of accession cards for silhouettes, engravings and paintings in the house. Photographs of the paintings and duplicates of the silhouettes in the House. Photographs of original silver and china in the House. Working drawings of the Great Clock. Photographs (prints and slides) of the Great Clock. Reports on the Great Clock by Mr. Rupert Chandler and Mr. Irvin Rosen. Room-by-room inventory of the original furnishings in the House included as Annex A. The following miscellaneous items: Bush, The Life Portraits of Thomas Jefferson. Monticello (color picture book). Bear, Thomas Jefferson's silver (reprint from an article in Antiques). The Monticello Family (catalogue of an exhibition). Xerox of the plan of design for the bookcases in the Library. Kimball, Designs for the Curtains at Monticello. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Thomas Jefferson Silver.
mssMonticello
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Working drawings for polygraph machine and other devices
Manuscripts
Autograph manuscripts, pen and ink. Three diagrams. Polygraph drawing includes notes. The other two drawings are possibly for a leaf spring for a carriage and a double-locking mechanism for a casement door at Monticello. (3 pages)
HM 9395