I've discovered by accident that we now have access to the Papers of George Washington Digital Edition (since we've shelled out the big bucks for this one, it's only available from Foundation computers - sorry, Everybody Else! You might ask your local librarian about getting access). The provider of this content, Rotunda (the University Press of Virginia's electronic imprint) is also planning on do
An interesting article about Clay Jenkinson's 2006 appearance on the Colbert Report, along with two other prominent Thomas Jefferson interpreters, is online here...along with Clay's apology to TJ for appearing on the show, and TJ's response (he's over it!).
I received the following update notification just now from Oxford University Press regarding the African American Studies Center fulltext file to which we subscribe. Note: this is a restricted access service available only to computer users at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation OR at any other institution with a paid subscription to this resource.
Dear Jack Robertson - Thomas Jefferson Foundation,
Since 1994 the Scout Report has listed and annotated praiseworthy websites of interest to librarians, teachers, students, and scholars. Here's one that we will add to our Thomas Jefferson Portal research database: Creating the United States. More info:
It seems you can't turn around these days without tripping over a fabulous online digital collection. While searching this morning for an intriguingly-titled Civil War pamphlet (“Interior Causes of the War: The Nation Demonized and its President a Spirit-Rapper," by "A Citizen of Ohio"), I found that the lovely people at Cornell University had made it available online as part of their Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection:
After a long, ridiculous search that made my head hurt real bad, I made a discovery that I hope will save many people from similar experiences: the nice people at Swem Library at the College of William and Mary have put Jefferson's "Notes on a Tour of English Gardens" up on their website. In full color! (Warning: massive files!)
Well, I've missed our President's actual inauguration by several days, but I'd like to belatedly commemorate the occasion by offering an intriguing historical tidbit about - yes! - Jefferson's first inauguration.
Intrepid visitors to Monticello's web site may have already caught the announcement, but I wanted to bring it to the attention of the loyal readers of our friendly blog here:
The Library of Virginia announced in its latest e-newsletter that they have launched two (2) shiny new websites. The new main library website is at http://beta.lva.virginia.gov (which, among its many other fine qualities, is a URL slightly easier to remember than its predecessor, http://www.lva.lib.va.us).
I'd like to draw your attention to the new trailer that's been put up on our website that previews the new film produced for the new Visitors Center. It's even got an explosion.
A few items of possible interest which I've decided to throw all together in one entry, as my lineup of Things to Blog About is getting longer and longer:
The Mental Floss blog is having a Tournament of Genius instead. Thomas Jefferson was pitted against Bill James in round 1 (Division II) and came out on top - we'll see how he does against John Stuart Mill in Round 2...
Last September, I received a question from someone looking for a Jefferson letter titled, "The Value of Constitutions." Jefferson didn't usually bother to give his letters titles, so this was a bit puzzling. I finally figured out that this letter had been published in a volume edited by Edward Dumbauld, chapter 4 of which was titled, "The Value of Constitutions." It seemed pretty obvious that somewhere along the way, someone had quoted from the letter and attached the chapter title
Cue the angel chorus! At long long long last, the Papers of Thomas Jefferson are now available online! (And this morning I see that the site is already down. Perhaps we have already loved it to death. I'm sure it will be back up presently.) The site currently provides the full content, including illustrations, contained in volumes 1 through 33 of Princeton's Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
I was unaware of this, but it seems that our beloved local apple, the Albemarle Pippin, is in fact a native of New York (just like Your Correspondent, here). The Big Apple has decided to get serious about jettisoning the image of the vile-tasting but very photogenic Red Delicious Apple in favor of the homely-but-yummy Pippin. This all goes along nicely with the cresting wave of the local food movement, as well. A blog entry
Reference question: For whom is Carolina Ramsay Randolph (Thomas Jefferson's great-granddaughter, daughter of his oldest grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph) named? Search strategy:
Unfortunately it's been a bizarre week for us here (hence the dearth of blog entries), but I did want to highlight our new exhibit, which is singularly appropriate for Mothers' Day. It features Lucy Meriwether Lewis Marks, mother of Meriwether Lewis. Lucy was a healer/midwife/doctor person who taught her medicinal skills to her famous son. This, of course, was slightly handy on his cross-country expedition. Drawings of various medicinal plants that Lucy may have used, among other things, are on view in our new exhibition. And if
The 2008 issue of Furniture History: The Journal of the Furniture History Society is All John Soane All the Time, with “A Catalogue of the Furniture in Sir John Soane’s Museum,” as well as several articles on John Soane and his furniture. Who's John Soane, you say, and what's he got to do with Thomas Jefferson? And I say: well, architecture, neoclassicism...something like that. All I know is, Curatorial wants me to buy lots of books on John Soane, and I do whatever they tell me.* Anyway, here's a panoramic
Two gentlemen, Will Thomas and Doug Seefeldt, who helped develop content and programs in digital history at the University of Virginia’s Virginia Center for Digital History — http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/index.php?page=VCDH – are now in charge of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, History Department’s digital history initiatives. This web site — http://digitalh