Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Announces Fall 2026 Pursuits of Knowledge Series

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello today announced the next four installments in its ongoing Pursuits of Knowledge series. Inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s lifelong passion for learning and innovation, Pursuits of Knowledge brings renowned scholars, journalists, and thought leaders to Monticello to explore big ideas and pressing questions. 

The fall 2026 series will begin with a special evening program on Monticello’s West Lawn featuring Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent and former anchor and managing editor for PBS News Hour, and Jamelle Bouie, New York Times columnist and Monticello’s 2026-27 Fritz and Claudine Kundrun Fellow, on September 21. Woodruff and Bouie will discuss the evolving media landscape, the role of journalism in shaping a free society, and the challenges facing the press in 2026 and beyond.  

Pursuits of Knowledge will continue throughout the fall, featuring Harvard University professor Dr. Danielle Allen on her book Radical Duke: How One Aristocrat—and the American Revolution—Transformed Britain (Oct. 29), Monticello President Dr. Jane Kamensky in conversation with leaders from U.S. presidential sites and libraries on storytelling and American democracy (Nov. 12), and historian and author Dr. Richard Bell on his book The American Revolution and the Fate of the World (Dec. 8). Additional details below.  

“Monticello’s Pursuits of Knowledge series gives us the opportunity to follow Thomas Jefferson’s legacy of learning and exploration,” said Dr. Jane Kamensky, president and CEO of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. “Through these conversations, we engage with the work of great minds, cultivate our curiosity, and are inspired to contend with the questions of our day and the promises of the future.”

Monticello Members receive special pricing for all Pursuits of Knowledge offerings. Learn more about all the benefits of membership here. 

Fall 2026 Pursuits of Knowledge offerings: 
 
Judy Woodruff and Jamelle Bouie on Freedom of the Press 
September 21, Monticello’s West Lawn  

Drawing on Judy Woodruff’s decades of reporting on American politics and public life, this fascinating discussion will explore the state—and future—of the American press at a pivotal moment for the nation. Learn more and reserve tickets here. 

Dr. Danielle Allen on Radical Duke 
October 29, Monticello’s Howard and Abby Milstein Theater at the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center 

Join Harvard University professor, award-winning scholar, and Thomas Jefferson Foundation Trustee Dr. Danielle Allen for a discussion of her new book, Radical Duke: How One Aristocrat—and the American Revolution—Transformed Britain. 
 
Moderated by Monticello President Dr. Jane Kamensky, the conversation will explore how Dr. Allen uncovered the forgotten story of a renegade English Duke and his revolutionary alliance with the firebrand polemicist Thomas Paine. Book signing to follow. Learn more and reserve tickets here. 

Storytelling and American Democracy 
November 12, Piedmont Virginia Community College’s V. Earl Dickinson Theater 

November’s Pursuits of Knowledge offering sits at the intersection of two overlapping conferences at Monticello: a national summit of Educating for American Democracy’s Community Learning Partners network and a public history conference examining Jefferson’s “tombstone legacies”—self-government, freedom of conscience, and freedom of mind. 

Featuring historians and leaders from presidential sites and libraries, this powerful conversation will explore the role of storytelling in shaping American democracy. Participants include Dr. Jane Kamensky, president and CEO of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello; Edward F. O’Keefe, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library; Tina Tchen, executive vice president of programs for the Obama Foundation; and Janet Tran, director of the Center for Civics, Education, and Opportunity for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. Learn more and reserve tickets here. 

Dr. Richard Bell on The American Revolution and the Fate of the World 
December 8, Monticello’s Howard and Abby Milstein Theater at the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center 

In his award-winning new book, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, Dr. Richard Bell offers a bold new framework for understanding the Revolutionary War not as a tidy founding moment but as a high-stakes struggle fought on land and sea, shaped by commerce, diplomacy, propaganda, and contingency. 
 
Bell, a professor of history at the University of Maryland, will take the audience on a captivating journey that goes far beyond the 13 colonies to explore the global reverberations of the sprawling, seismic war. Learn more and reserve tickets here. 

About Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello 

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation was incorporated in 1923 to preserve Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Virginia. As a civic institution, Monticello seeks to increase knowledge and share the ideals Jefferson articulated in the Declaration of Independence through programming and scholarship built upon a foundation of rigorous research.  

Monticello is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, a United Nations World Heritage Site, and a Site of Conscience. As a private, nonprofit organization, Monticello receives no ongoing local, state, or federal funding. Visitors and the generosity of donors make Monticello’s twofold mission of preservation and education possible. For information, visit monticello.org.