Founded in 1994 by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.—the private, nonprofit organization that has owned and operated Monticello since 1923—the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies (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. All ICJS programs are offered in a hybrid format with in-person and online attendance opportunities. We look forward to welcoming you to our programs!
Using the links below you'll find both our upcoming and previous programs. Virtual programs at the ICJS are free, unless specified otherwise. In-person programs, while also free unless specified otherwise, may require advanced registration.
Sunday, March 26th at 2pm Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello and the Virginia Festival of the Book for a presentation by Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian, Edward J. Larson.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies for a series of Book Events. Each event will feature new and exciting books by leading scholars discussing a variety of topics on the history of the early American republic.
Join DAACS staff and DAACS collaborating scholars for a diverse range of conversations on ground-breaking new archaeological research in the American South and Caribbean. Multiple dates.
Join us Thursday, March 23rd, from 4-5 p.m. ET, for a hybrid Fellow's Forum with Liam Riordan, Professor of History, University of Maine.
Join us Wednesday, February 22nd, from 4-5 p.m. ET for a hybrid Fellow’s Forum with Christopher Bates, Ph.D. Student, University of Edinburgh.
Join us, Thursday February 16th, from 4-5 p.m. ET for a hybrid presentation by Eliga Gould, Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire and 2022-2023 Fritz and Claudine Kundrun Fellow.
Join us Wednesday, February 15th, from 4-5 p.m. ET for a hybrid Fellow's Forum with Chloe Chapin, Ph.D. candidate in the American Studies Program, Harvard University.
Join us Tuesday, February 7th, from 4-5 p.m. ET for a hybrid Fellow's Forum with Vitor Izecksohn, professor in the Graduate Program of Social History at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Join us Thursday, January 19th, from 4-5 p.m. ET for a virtual Fellow’s Forum with Susan Kern, historian and author of The Jeffersons at Shadwell (Yale 2010).
Join us Wednesday, December 7th, from 4-5 p.m. ET for a virtual Fellow’s Forum with Holly Cowan Shulman, editor of The Dolley Madison Digital Edition.
Join us Wednesday, November 30th, from 4-5p.m. ET for a virtual Fellow’s Forum with Americana Foundation Curatorial Fellow Molly Martien.
Join us Tuesday, November 29, from 4-5 p.m. ET for a virtual Fellow’s Forum with Luke J. Pecoraro, PhD, Director of Archaeology, Drayton Hall Preservation Trust.
Join us for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Jeanie Grant Moore, Professor Emerita from the University of San Diego and University of Wisconsin, on Wednesday, November 9 at 4pm ET.
Join us on November 2 at 4 p.m. for an in-person and virtual book talk with historian Peter Mancall as he discusses his book, The Trials of Thomas Morton: An Anglican Lawyer, His Puritan Foes, and the Battle for a New England.
Join us Tuesday, October 25th, 4-5 p.m. ET, for a forum with Stephen Lloyd, the Curator of the Derby Collection at Knowsley Hall.
OCTOBER 21 - Environmental change is the leading transnational challenge of today. Diplomacy is a key part of the transition from words to action but what does this mean in practice? To answer these and other questions, the conference will bring together a diverse group of experts.
OCTOBER 12 - Join us for an in-person and virtual book talk with award-winning historian Robert Pierce Forbes as he discusses his book, Notes on the State of Virginia: An Annotated Edition.
Join us on September 14 at 4:00pm ET for a talk with Jim Ambuske (of Mount Vernon) and Jeanette Patrick (from George Mason University), moderated by Monticello's Jenna Owens, as they discuss their widely acclaimed podcast Intertwined about the enslaved community at Mount Vernon.
A virtual Fellows Forum on Aug. 25 at 4 p.m. with AriDy Nox: writer, librettist, playwright, and Jacinth Greywoode: writer, composer, and musical director.
A virtual Fellows Forum on Aug. 23 at 4 p.m. with Johanna Heide, a PhD fellow with the DFG-funded RTG Minor Cosmopolitanisms at the University of Potsdam. Her research deals with questions of the ‘archive of slavery’ and its afterlives.
A virtual Fellows Forum on Aug. 18 at 4 p.m. with Melissa Adler, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario.
A virtual Fellow’s Forum with Jean-Baptiste Goyard, professeur agrégé (associate professor) in English at Versailles University and a PhD candidate in American history at Paris 8 University, France.
Both quantitative and qualitative analyses suggest that American colonists referred to antiquity in order to legitimize the creation of a de jure republican confederation in the mid-1770s in the antimonarchical sense of the term, to express patriotic optimism until the turn of 1780s, to debate on the suitability of an extended federal republic and to express exceptionalism during the debate on the Constitution.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Emily West, Professor of American History at the University of Reading (UK) and Chair of British American Nineteenth Century Historians (BrANCH). Tuesday, July 26, 2022, 4:00 p.m. ET
Virtual Forum Thursday, July 21, 4–5 p.m. ET—A virtual Fellow’s Forum with Laura Sandy, Associate Professor in the History of Slavery & Director for the Centre for the Study of International Slavery (CSIS), University of Liverpool, UK
Building on research contained in her monograph, Early American Overseers of Slavery: Supervisors, Enslaved Labourers, and the Plantation Enterprise, Dr. Sandy expands our awareness and understanding of the lives of non-elite free women, female servants, and enslaved women who labored on plantations. In particular, her research uncovers and investigates women who played supervisory and skilled roles at Monticello and Mount Vernon.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Mark Alan Mattes, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Louisville. July 19, 2022, 4:00 p.m. ET
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Bartosz Dudek, journalist and Head of the Polish Service of Germany's international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Evan Haefeli, Associate Professor of History at Texas A&M University. May 26, 2022
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Charles Cullen, President and Librarian Emeritus of the Newberry Library. May 24, 2022
Decoding the Founding: Truths, Lies, and Myths
Presented by Joanne Freeman, Class of 1954 Professor of American History and of American Studies at Yale University. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series is a collaborative effort between the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, the University of Virginia Library, and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Chair in the Corcoran Department of History at the University. The lecture was established to bring to the University eminent scholars whose research will provide fresh insights into topics related to Jefferson. The UVA Library is proud to be a sponsor of this event, continuing its mission of connecting people with resources and ideas as the center of the University's unique educational community.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Stephen Bygrave, Professor of English at the University of Southampton. April 28, 2022
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Kenneth Morgan, Professor of History in the Department of Politics and History at Brunel University, London. April 26, 2022
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. Tuesday, March 29, 2022
The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind: Thomas Jefferson's Idea of a University, with author Andrew J. O'Shaughnessy. March 20, 2022
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Cody Nager, PhD Candidate in the Department of History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Thursday, February 24, 2022, virtual.
Join the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies (RIISS) at the University of Aberdeen and the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual book talk with Martin Clagett, independent scholar and historian of the Scottish Enlightenment, the American Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution. February 22, 2022.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Nicolas Bell-Romero, Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Legacies of Enslavement Inquiry at the University of Cambridge. Thursday, January 27, 2022
Join the American Philosophical Society to celebrate the launch of a special issue of the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society based on the APS’s Spring 2018 symposium on "The Spirit of Inquiry in the Age of Jefferson."
Held in commemoration of the 275th anniversary of the American Philosophical Society’s founding in 1743 and the birth of its long-time President, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826, APS 1780, President 1797-1814), the 2018 symposium was co-sponsored by the National Constitution Center, the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, and the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and explored the history of science, knowledge production, and learning during the Age of Jefferson (1743-1826).
The newly-published volume based on the symposium proceedings contains papers that touch on an enormous range of topics and fields--much like Jefferson's own intellectual life!
Join Andrew Wehrman, Endrina Tay, Diane Ehrenpreis, and Elizabeth Chew in conversation with Andrew O'Shaughnessy as they reflect on Jefferson's influence on scientific inquiry during the Early Republic.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Holly Cowan Shulman, research professor in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia. December 16, 2021
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Emily Bradley Greenfield, Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at Stanford University. Tuesday, November 30, 2021, virtual.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Laurent Zecchini, journalist and independent scholar. November 23, 2021, virtual.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for an in-person (and virtual!) book talk with bestselling author, Andrew Roberts. November 18, 2021.
A conference co-hosted by the American Academy of Diplomacy and The University of Virginia Center for Politics. October 30, 2021
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with John C. Van Horne, Director Emeritus of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Thursday, October 28th, 2021.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Grant E. Stanton, Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at the University of Pennsylvania. October 21, 2021, virtual.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies for a book launch with author Andrew J. O'Shaughnessy (Saunders Director of the ICJS and Vice President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation). October 5, 2021.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Linda Binsted, Architect and Architectural Historian. Tuesday, September 21, 2021.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for its first in-person (and virtual!) book talk with Paul Finkelman, President of Gratz College. September 1, 2021.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Sue Kozel, Independent Scholar. August 24, 2021.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Daniel N. Gullotta, Ph.D. candidate (ABD) at Stanford University. Thursday, August 19, 2021.
The Transatlantic Slavery Symposium is a joint venture between the Robert H. Smith Scholarship Centre at Benjamin Franklin House in London, the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Our aim is to bring together scholars from both sides of the Atlantic to address the lasting impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade through panel discussions on themes ranging from its historical foundations and development in the Revolutionary Atlantic world to current best practices in the museums and heritage sector. We hope that by addressing this complex topic from a historical and contemporary perspective, that we can spark further discussions on how to bring stories of enslaved people to the forefront of public history internationally.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Matthew Steilen, Professor of Law at the University at Buffalo School of Law, State University of New York. Tuesday, July 27, 2021
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Andrew Kettler, Ph.D. Thursday, July 22, 2021
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Patrick Spero, Librarian and Director of the American Philosophical Society Library. Thursday, July 8, 2021
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a virtual Fellow's Forum with Alyssa Penick, Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. June 24, 2021.
A virtual Fellow's Forum with Christopher Pearl, Associate Professor of History at Lycoming College. June 22, 2021.
A virtual Fellow's Forum with Holly Brewer, Burke Chair of American Cultural and Intellectual History and Associate Professor of History at the University of Maryland. May 27, 2021.
A virtual Fellow's Forum with Emelia Abbé Robertson, Ph.D. Candidate in the English Language and Literature Department, the University of Michigan. May 25, 2021.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a digital book talk with Carolyn Eastman, Associate Professor of History at Virginia Commonwealth University. April 29, 2021.
Join the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello for a digital book talk with historian and Professor of Military Theory and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College, Colonel (Retired) Kevin J. Weddle, April 22, 2021.
October 24, 2020, a virtual conference co-hosted by the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies
