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Tombstone Legacies Conference

Caroline and Charles had their rehearsal dinner at Monticello's Mont Alto in Charlottesville Virginia. The dinner was catered by Chef Dean Maupin from Keswick Hall, in Keswick Virginia. The event was planned by Easton Events, out of Charlottesville.

A program of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, the conference will explore Jefferson’s lasting contributions to secure the freedoms of self-government, religion, and education forever enshrined on his memorial.

Location: The Robert H. Smith Center at Montalto
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  • All Guests $30

Conference Overview

Of all Thomas Jefferson’s world-historical accomplishments, he wished to be especially remembered for three achievements he asked to be inscribed on the granite marker erected over his final resting place at his beloved Monticello:

Here was buried

Thomas Jefferson 

Author of the Declaration of American Independence 

of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom 

& Father of the University of Virginia. 

Jefferson's obelisk gravestone, which features the three things his wished most to be remembered for: the Declaration of Independence; the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and the University of Virginia.

The Tombstone Legacies Conference will explore Jefferson’s lasting contributions to secure the freedoms of self-government, religion, and education forever enshrined on this memorial.

Special thanks to the Library of America, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, for partnering to advance this conference.

Panels

Keynote: Thomas Jefferson and the Documentary Record

Drawing on the unparalleled documentary record assembled by The Papers of Thomas Jefferson and The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, this keynote explores Jefferson’s enduring legacies through the documents he created, received, and preserved. Nicole Brown (Thomas Jefferson's Monticello), J. Jefferson Looney (The Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello), and James McClure (The Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton University) will discuss the work of preserving, interpreting, and making Jefferson’s papers accessible to researchers and the public.

The Living Declaration: Insights on Independence

Historian and former presidential speechwriter Ted Widmer (The Living Declaration) joins scholars Michael Auslin (National Treasure), Eric Slauter (The Promises of the Declaration of Independence, forthcoming), Emily Sneff (When the Declaration of Independence Was News), and Auriana Woods (Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello) for a conversation exploring the origins and vital afterlife of the Declaration of Independence. Beginning with Jefferson's role in framing the Declaration’s ideas and ideals, and the paradoxical relationship between slavery and freedom in the founding of the United States, the panel will discuss the document’s continuing influence, from politics and public debate to culture and civic life.

Religious Freedom

Jefferson demonstrated profound interest in religion and religious freedom over the course of his life. His 1779 proposed bill to establish religious freedom in Virginia signaled a commitment to consider the question of separation between Church and State prior to the Virginia legislature’s passage of the Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786. Join moderator Ronald Johnson (Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution) and panelists Graham Judd (Timestamp Media), Melissa Rogers (Faith in American Public Life), Corey D. B. Walker (Wake Forest University), and Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh (The Souls of Womenfolk: The Religious Cultures of Enslaved Women in the Lower South) as they explore Jefferson’s legacy of religious freedom and its continuing impact on American society and the wider world.

Education

Jefferson’s dedication to educational ideals is most often recognized through his pivotal role in founding the University of Virginia. However, the United States’ commitment to educational freedom has been a contested battleground since its earliest years. Moderator Emma Humphries (iCivics) joins David Bobb (Bill of Rights Institute), Catherine E. Kelly (Republic of Taste: Art, Politics and Everyday Life in Early America), Andrew O’Shaughnessy (Republic and Empire: Crisis, Revolution, and America’s Early Independence), and Cainan Townsend (Robert Russa Moton Museum) to examine the evolution of American education and its relationship to civic engagement, past and present.

Registration includes the Storytelling and American Democracy keynote conversation.

Conference Schedule

  • Andrew Davenport, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

  • Moderator: Nicole Brown, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

    J. Jefferson Looney, Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello 

    James McClure, Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton

  • Chair: Ted Widmer, City University of New York

    Michael Robert Auslin, Hoover Institution at Stanford University 

    Eric Slauter, University of Chicago

    Emily Sneff, Independent Scholar

    Auriana Woods, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

  • Served in the adjacent room

  • Chair: Ronald Johnson, Baylor University

    Graham Judd, Timestamp Media

    Melissa Rogers, Wake Forest University

    Corey D.B. Walker, Wake Forest University

    Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh, Stanford University

  • In the adjacent room

  • Chair: Emma Humphries, iCivics

    David Bobb, Bill of Rights Institute

    Catherine Kelly, William & Mary

    Andrew O’Shaughnessy, University of Virginia

    Cainan Townsend, Robert Russa Moton Museum

  • Jane Kamensky, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

Conference Speakers

Headshot of Michael Robert Auslin, PhD

Michael Robert Auslin, PhD

Michael Robert Auslin, PhD, is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and previously was a professor of history at Yale. He is the author of the just-released National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, 2026).

Headshot of a smiling man with short light brown hair, wearing a navy suit, white shirt, and orange patterned tie.

David Bobb, PhD

David Bobb, PhD is the President and CEO of the Bill of Rights Institute. His latest co-authored book is Divided Over the Declaration: How an Enduring Debate Sustains the Vision of America (Diversion Books, 2026).

Nicole Brown smiles in a mustard-colored dress, standing near Monticello's vegetable garden and pavilion at golden hour.

Nicole Brown, PhD

Nicole Brown, PhD, is the Edgar Shannon Historian at Monticello’s Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, where she runs the fellowship program. She is also the co-editor of The Williamsburg Bray School, 1760–1774: A History Through Records, Reflections, and Rediscovery (The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2024).

Andrew M. Davenport, PhD

Andrew M. Davenport, PhD, is Vice President for Research and Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

Headshot of Emma Humphries, PhD

Emma Humphries, PhD

Emma Humphries, PhD, is the Chief Education Officer for iCivics. Emma has degrees in political science and education and received her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Florida. 

Headshot of Ronald Angelo Johnson, PhD

Ronald Angelo Johnson, PhD

Ronald Angelo Johnson, PhD, is the 2026-2027 Mellon Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the American Antiquarian Society and the Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Professor of History at Baylor University. His latest book is Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution (Cornell University Press, 2025). 

Headshot of a smiling bald man with rectangular dark-framed glasses, wearing a light blue button-down shirt against a gray background.

Graham Judd

Graham Judd is a documentary filmmaker and executive producer. He co-founded Timestamp Media with historian Vincent Brown in 2021 and is executive producer of American Muslims: A History Revealed, the Webby-nominated PBS series tracing the long history of Muslims in America.

Jane Kamensky poses for a headshot in Monticello, wearing a collared shirt with dark green print and an antique piano, mirror, and paintings in the background.

Jane Kamensky, PhD

Jane Kamensky, PhD, is President and CEO of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and Trumbull Professor of American History emerita at Harvard University. She is a celebrated author of many books, including the prize-winning A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley (W.W. Norton, 2016) and Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution (W.W. Norton, 2024), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. 

Portrait of Cathy Kelly, a woman with short blonde hair, smiling with arms crossed, wearing a black dress and gold cuff bracelet.

Catherine E. Kelly, PhD

Catherine E. Kelly, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture and Professor of History at William & Mary. Her most recent book is Republic of Taste: Art, Politics and Everyday Life in Early America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016).

Outdoor portrait of J. Jefferson Looney, an older man with glasses and a white beard, wearing a gray tweed jacket and red tie, with autumn trees in the background.

J. Jefferson Looney, PhD

J. Jefferson Looney, PhD, is the Daniel P. Jordan Editor of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. He was formerly editor and project director of the Dictionary of Virginia Biography, and he is a past president of the Association for Documentary Editing.   He is the author or editor of several works on the history of Princeton University, where he completed his doctoral work in British history.

Outdoor portrait of James P. McClure, a bald man with glasses and a white beard, wearing a navy blazer over a patterned collared shirt, with greenery in the background.

James P. McClure, PhD

James P. McClure, PhD, is the General Editor of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton University. He is a former president of the Association for Documentary Editing. He also directs special digital projects including the Jefferson Weather and Climate Records website and, in 2026, an interactive digital exhibit on the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

Headshot of Andrew O’Shaughnessy, PhD

Andrew O’Shaughnessy, PhD

Andrew O’Shaughnessy, PhD, is Professor of History at the University of Virginia. His most recent books are The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind: Thomas Jefferson’s Idea of a University (University of Virginia Press, 2021) and, co-authored with Trevor Burnard, Republic and Empire: Crisis, Revolution, and America’s Early Independence to (Yale University Press 2025).    

Headshot of Melissa Rogers

Melissa Rogers, JD

Melissa Rogers, JD, is the Distinguished Scholar in Residence in Faith, Law, and Public Policy at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She also serves as a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Governance Studies Program of the Brookings Institution. Her latest book is Faith in American Public Life (Baylor University Press 2019).

Portrait of Eric Slauter, a man with curly brown hair and glasses, wearing a navy suit and tie, standing in front of a stone archway.

Eric Slauter, PhD

Eric Slauter, PhD, is Deputy Dean of the Humanities and the College at the University of Chicago and the founding director of the Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture. He is the author of The State as a Work of Art: The Cultural Origins of the Constitution (University of Chicago Press, 2009).

Headshot of Dr. Emily Sneff

Emily Sneff, PhD

Emily Sneff, PhD, is an early American historian and leading expert on the Declaration of Independence. She earned her Ph.D. in History from William & Mary. She is a consulting curator for exhibitions marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration at the Museum of the American Revolution and Historic Trappe. Her most recent book is When the Declaration of Independence Was News (Oxford University Press, 2026).

Smiling man with a short beard, wearing a dark suit, light blue patterned bow tie, and lapel pin in front of a “Thurgood Marshall” banner.

Cainan Townsend

Cainan Townsend is the executive director of the Robert Russa Moton Museum. He was appointed to the statewide boards of the African American Cultural Resources Task Force (2018 & 2024), the Virginia Commission on African American History Education Commission (2019), and the African American Advisory Council for the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission (VA250) (2023). He received a BA and MA from Longwood University.

Smiling man with glasses and a goatee in a checked blazer and light blue shirt, hands clasped, standing outside a paned window.

Corey D. B. Walker, PhD

Corey D. B. Walker, PhD, is Dean of Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities, and Inaugural Director of the Program in African American Studies. He also leads a major Mellon Foundation initiative on environmental and epistemic justice and was named the 2023–2024 Phi Beta Kappa Frank M. Updike Memorial Scholar, becoming the first Wake Forest professor selected as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar.

Headshot of Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh, PhD

Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh, PhD

Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Nina C. Crocker Faculty Scholar in Religious Studies at Stanford University. She is the author of The Souls of Womenfolk: The Religious Cultures of Enslaved Women in the Lower South (University of North Carolina Press, 2021). 

Outdoor portrait of Ted Widmer, a man with gray hair, wearing a blue plaid suit and coral patterned tie, with city buildings in the background.

Ted Widmer, PhD

Ted Widmer, PhD, is the Distinguished Lecturer at the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York. He was a foreign policy speechwriter and senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and served as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012-2014. His most recent book is The Living Declaration: A Biography of America’s Founding Text (Library of America, 2026).

Auriana Woods standing next to the Contemplative Site exhibit at Monticello

Auriana Woods

Auriana Woods is a historian of 19th century African American life and the Director of Getting Word, the African American history department at Monticello. She is a graduate of Columbia University’s Oral History M.A. Program and Brown University.

Conference Host

The Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello (ICJS)

The mission of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies (ICJS) is to foster Thomas Jefferson scholarship and disseminate findings through research and education. 

Founded in 1994 by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.—the private, nonprofit organization that has owned and operated Monticello since 1923—the ICJS has created a network of scholars, teachers, and students who engage a global audience in a dialogue with Jefferson’s ideas. Through a fellowship program, international scholarly conferences, panel discussions, teacher workshops, lectures, and curriculum-based tours, the ICJS establishes relationships with people from around the world. 

The ICJS encompasses the departments of Archaeology, Getting Word African American History Department, the 15,500-square foot Jefferson Library, and the editorial operations of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series. An Advisory Committee of acclaimed scholars and statesmen helps guide the Center’s activities.

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