Suggested Reading List

This page contains a general list of suggested reading material pertaining to Thomas Jefferson and his world, organized by topic. Some of these books may be purchased online through our Online Shop. Some may be out of print, but can be obtained through your local library or used bookseller. Titles are linked to WorldCat, where you can search for copies in libraries near you.

For more specialized references on specific topics, see "Further Sources" listed in individual articles in the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia.

Architecture

General

• Kimball, Fiske, ed. Thomas Jefferson, Architect: Original Designs in the Coolidge Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society. New York: Da Capo Press, 1968. Originally published in 1916. The first academic study of Thomas Jefferson's architectural drawings; includes facsimiles of the drawings now in the Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
• Nichols, Frederick D. Thomas Jefferson's Architectural Drawings. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1961; reprint, 1995. Contains a valuable checklist with brief descriptions of all known architectural drawings by Jefferson.
• Nichols, Frederick D., and Ralph E. Griswold. Thomas Jefferson, Landscape Architect. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1978.
• O'Neal, William B. Jefferson's Fine Arts Library: His Selections for the University of Virginia Together with His Own Architectural Books at Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1976.

Monticello

• Beiswanger, William L. Monticello in Measured Drawings. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1998. Text by Monticello's emeritus Robert H. Smith Director of Restoration, accompanied by reproductions of the measured drawings of Monticello done by the Historic American Buildings Survey.
• McLaughlin, Jack. Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder. New York: Holt, 1988. A useful narrative of the construction of Monticello.

Other Buildings

• Chambers, S. Allen, Jr. Poplar Forest and Thomas Jefferson. Forest, Va.: Corporation for Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, 1993.
• Hogan, Pendleton. The Lawn: A Guide to Jefferson's University. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1987.
• Howard, Hugh. Thomas Jefferson, Architect: The Built Legacy of our Third President. New York: Rizzoli, 2003. Examines all of the known architectural works of Thomas Jefferson.
• Kimball, Fiske. The Capitol of Virginia: A Landmark of American Architecture. Edited by Jon Kukla. Richmond: Virginia State Library and Archives, 1989.
• Wilson, Richard Guy, ed. Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village: The Creation of an Architectural Masterpiece. Charlottesville, Va.: Bayly Art Museum, University Press of Virginia, 1993; rev. ed., 2009.

Art and Music

• Adams, William Howard, ed. Jefferson and the Arts: An Extended View. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1976.
• Berman, Eleanor Davidson. Jefferson Among the Arts: An Essay in Early American Aesthetics. New York: Philosophical Library, 1947.
• Bush, Alfred L. The Life Portraits of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1962; rev. ed., 1987.
• Cripe, Helen C. Thomas Jefferson and Music. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1974; rev. ed., Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2009.
• Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. The Image of Thomas Jefferson in the Public Eye: Portraits for the People, 1800-1809. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1981.
• O'Neal, William B. Jefferson's Fine Arts Library: His Selections for the University of Virginia Together with His Own Architectural Books at Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1976.
• Stein, Susan R. The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. New York: Abrams, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1993.

Biography

• Bernstein, Richard B. Thomas Jefferson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. A well-regarded one-volume biography; fairly short (253 pages).
• Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson. Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 1987. 414 pages. A reliable one-volume biography; tends to concentrate on Jefferson's public career.
• Gordon-Reed, Annette, and Peter Onuf. "Most Blessed of the Patriarchs": Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination.  New York: Liveright, 2016.  A nuanced character study by two leading Jefferson scholars.
• Kimball, Marie. Kimball's unfinished multi-volume study of Jefferson does a particularly thorough job of discussing Jefferson's relationships, and contains a fairly extensive section on his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson.
  • Jefferson, the Road to Glory, 1743 to 1776. New York: Coward-McCann, 1943. 358 pp.
  • Jefferson, War and Peace, 1776 to 1784. New York: Coward-McCann, 1947.
  • Jefferson, the Scene of Europe, 1784 to 1789. New York: Coward-McCann, 1950.
• Malone, Dumas. Jefferson and His Time. Boston: Little, Brown, 1948-1981. 6 vols. This seminal biography is one of the most famous ever written; careful scholarship and great detail, with useful notes.
  • Jefferson the Virginian. 1948. 484 pp.
  • Jefferson and the Rights of Man. 1951. 523 pp.
  • Jefferson and the Ordeal of Liberty. 1962. 545 pp.
  • Jefferson the President: First Term, 1801-1805. 1970. 539 pp.
  • Jefferson the President: Second Term, 1805-1809. 1974. 704 pp.
  • The Sage of Monticello. 1981. 551 pp.
• Malone, Dumas. Thomas Jefferson: A Brief Biography. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1993. 48 pp. A reprint of Malone's 1933 essay on Jefferson for the Dictionary of American Biography, with a preface by Merrill Peterson.
• Mayo, Bernard, ed. Jefferson Himself: The Personal Narrative of a Many-Sided American. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1942; reprint, University Press of Virginia, 1970. 384 pp. This biography tells Jefferson's life story using excerpts from his own writings; highly readable.
• Meacham, Jon. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. New York: Random House, 2012.
• Peterson, Merrill. Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970. 1072 pp. "The best one-volume biography," according to Frank Shuffelton (editor of Thomas Jefferson: a Comprehensive, Annotated Bibliography), although somewhat longer than others.
• Padover, Saul K. Jefferson. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1942. 459 pp. Abridged version reprinted by New American Library in 1952 and 1970.
• Randall, Henry S. The Life of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Derby & Jackson, 1858. This is one of the first major biographies of Thomas Jefferson, for which the author interviewed members of Jefferson's family. Modern reprints are available. Also available online: vol. 1, 2, 3.
• Randolph, Sarah N. The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Harper, 1871; reprints, 1939 (University Press), 1947 (Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation), 1958 (Frederick Ungar), 1967 (Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation), and 1978 (University Press of Virginia). Also available online. A sentimental but highly readable and entertaining biography by Jefferson's great-granddaughter.

Books and Libraries

• Cole, John Y. Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1993.
• Gilreath, James, and Douglas L. Wilson, eds. Thomas Jefferson's Library: A Catalog with the Entries in His Own Order. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1989. Online version available.
• Sowerby, E. Millicent. Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1952-1959. Subsequently published by the University Press of Virginia in 1983. Online version available.
• Wilson, Douglas L. Jefferson's Books. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 1996.

Education

• Dabney, Virginius. Mr. Jefferson's University: A History. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1981.
• McDonald, Robert M.S., ed. Thomas Jefferson's Military Academy: Founding West Point. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2004.
• Ragosta, John (ed.), Onuf, Peter S. (ed.), O'Shaughnessy, Andrew (ed.). The Founding of Thomas Jefferson's University. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2019.
• Wagoner, Jennings L., Jr. Jefferson and Education. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2004.
• Wills, Gary. Mr. Jefferson's University. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2002.

Family

• Betts, Edwin M., and James Bear, Jr., eds. The Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1966; reprint, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1986. Extensive (but not exhaustive) collection of transcribed letters between Thomas Jefferson, his children, grandchildren, and occasionally other relatives.
• Kern, Susan. The Jeffersons at Shadwell. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2010. 362 pp. 
• Kierner, Cynthia. Martha Jefferson Randolph, Daughter of Monticello: Her Life and Times. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2014.
• Langhorne, Elizabeth. Monticello, a Family Story. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1987. 289 pp.
• Mayo, Bernard, ed. Thomas Jefferson and his Unknown Brother. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1981. Brief introductory text and collected letters between Thomas Jefferson and his younger brother, Randolph.
• Merrill, Boynton, Jr. Jefferson's Nephews: A Frontier Tragedy. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1987 (2nd ed.). A study of the two sons of Thomas Jefferson's sister Lucy Jefferson Lewis, and their involvement in a murder case in Kentucky in 1811-1812. Rich source of information on the extended Lewis-Jefferson family.
• Randall, Henry S. The Life of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Derby & Jackson, 1857. This is one of the first major biographies of Thomas Jefferson, for which the author interviewed members of Jefferson's family. Modern reprints are available.
• Randolph, Sarah N. The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Harper, 1871; reprinted multiple times. Also available online. This book by Thomas Jefferson's great-granddaughter relates family stories about Thomas Jefferson and life at Monticello.
• Shackelford, George Green, ed. Collected Papers to Commemorate Fifty Years of the Monticello Association of the Descendants of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville, Va.: Monticello Association, 1965. 2 vols. These volumes contain biographical essays on many of Jefferson's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, along with genealogical information.
• Yeck, Joanne.  The Jefferson Brothers. Kettering, OH: Slate River Press, 2012.  About Thomas Jefferson's brother Randolph, and their relationship with each other.

Food and Drink

• Fowler, Damon Lee, ed. Dining at Monticello: In Good Taste and Abundance. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2005. Includes essays by Monticello scholars on the food culture at Monticello, along with modernized versions of recipes from Jefferson family sources.
• Gabler, James M. Passions: The Wines & Travels of Thomas Jefferson. Baltimore: Bacchus Press, 1995.
• Hailman, John R. Thomas Jefferson on Wine. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2006.
• Kimball, Marie. Thomas Jefferson's Cook Book. Richmond: Garrett & Massie, 1938; reprinted multiple times. The recipes in Thomas Jefferson's Cook Book are from a manuscript inherited by descendants of Virginia Jefferson Randolph Trist. There are a few recipes recorded by Jefferson himself, but many of the recipes included are from non-Monticello sources.
• Lawrence, R. de Treville, III. Jefferson and Wine: Model of Moderation. The Plains, Va.: Vinifera Wine Growers Association, 1989. A collection of essays by various scholars on Jefferson and wine.
• Randolph, Mary. The Virginia House-Wife. Washington, D.C.: Davis and Force, 1824; reprinted multiple times. The 1984 edition edited by Karen Hess is the most widely available in print. This collection of recipes was written and published by a relative of the Jefferson family by marriage. Also available online.  Be advised that editions published after Randolph's death in 1828 contain unauthorized additions and changes.

Gardening and Horticulture

• Bemiss, Margaret Page. Historic Virginia Gardens: Preservation Work of the Garden Club of Virginia, 1975-2007. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2009. See especially Chapter 16, on the restoration of Monticello's gardens.
• Betts, Edwin M., ed. Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book: With Commentary and Relevant Extracts from Other Writings. Princeton: Published for the American Philosophical Society by Princeton University Press, 1953; reprints, 1976, 1999. Contains a facsimile of Jefferson's farm Bbok, including information about farm operations, slaves, livestock, crops, manufactories, etc. Also includes brief articles and excerpts from relevant letters. The  Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society.
• Betts, Edwin M., ed. Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book, 1766-1824: With Relevant Extracts from His Other Writings. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1944; reprints, 1985, 1999. Contains a facsimile of Jefferson's garden book, including information about flowers, trees, fruits, etc. Also includes brief articles and excerpts from relevant letters. The manuscript of the garden book is available online at the Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts,  Massachusetts Historical Society.
• Betts, Edwin M., and Hazlehurst Bolton Perkins. Thomas Jefferson's Flower Garden at Monticello. 3rd ed. Revised and enlarged by Peter J. Hatch. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1986.
• Hatch, Peter J. A Rich Spot of Earth: Thomas Jefferson's Revolutionary Garden. New Haven, C.T.: Yale University Press, 2012.
• Hatch, Peter J. The Fruits and Fruit Trees of Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1998.
• Hatch, Peter J. The Gardens of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1992; reprint, 1998.
• McEwan, Barbara. Thomas Jefferson, Farmer. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1991.

Garden History

• Adams, Denise Wiles. Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640-1940. Portland: Timber Press, 2004.
• Griffith, Lawrence D. Flowers and Herbs of Early America. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2008.
• Leighton, Ann. American Gardens of the Nineteenth Century: "For Comfort and Affluence." Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1987.
• McMahon, Bernard. The American Gardener's Calendar. Philadelphia: B. Graves, 1806; reprint, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 1997. Also available online.
• Newcomb, Peggy Cornett. Popular Annuals of Eastern North America, 1865-1914. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1985.
• Sarudy, Barbara Wells. Gardens and Gardening in the Chesapeake, 1700-1805. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

Monticello

See also Gardening and Horticulture

• Bear, James A., Jr., ed. Jefferson at Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1967. Reminiscences of a former slave from Monticello, Isaac Jefferson (Granger), and overseer Edmund Bacon.
• Leepson, Marc. Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built. New York: Free Press, 2001. The story of the Levy family, owners of Monticello throughout much of the 19th and early 20th century.
• Jackson, Donald. A Year at Monticello, 1795. Golden, Colo.: Fulcrum, 1989.
• Kelso, William M. Archaeology at Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1997.
• Peterson, Merrill D., ed. Visitors to Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1989. Selected first-hand accounts of visits to Monticello from 1780 to 1984.
• Stein, Susan R. The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. New York: Abrams, in association with the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1993. This commemorative catalog documents many of the objects on display at Monticello for the 250th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth.
• Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc. Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2002. Contains essays by Monticello's historians and curators on the architecture, furnishings, and gardens at Monticello.
• Urofsky, Melvin I. The Levy Family and Monticello, 1834-1923: Saving Thomas Jefferson's House. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2001.

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.

• Celebrating Seventy-Five Years of Preservation and Education: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc., 1923-1998. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1998. Contains essays on the founding of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation and the history of restoration efforts at Monticello, as well as a chronology of the Foundation.
• Cogliano, Francis D. Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2006. See especially Chapter 4, "Monticello."
• West, Patricia. Domesticating History: The Political Origins of America's House Museums. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999. See Section 3, "Campaigning for Monticello," which examines the political background of the founding of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation.

Politics and Law

• Bailey, Jeremy D. Thomas Jefferson and Executive Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
• Burstein, Andrew, and Nancy Isenberg. Madison and Jefferson. New York: Random House, 2010.
• Cogliano, Francis D. Emperor of Liberty: Thomas Jefferson's Foreign Policy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014.
• Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. The Process of Government Under Jefferson. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978.
• Dewey, Frank L. Thomas Jefferson, Lawyer. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1986. This book has a helpful appendix listing all of the manuscript sources for Jefferson's legal practice.
• Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.
• Ellis, Joseph J. What Did the Declaration Declare? Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999.
• Freeman, Joanne B. Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.
• Horn, James P.P., Jan Lewis, and Peter S. Onuf, eds. The Revolution of 1800: Democracy, Race, and the Republic. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2002.
• Kaminski, John P. Thomas Jefferson: Philosopher and Politician. Madison, Wis.: Parallel Press, 2005.
• Levy, Leonard W. Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963.
• Mayer, David N. The Constitutional Thought of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1994.
• Meacham, Jon. In the Hands of the People. New York: Random House, 2020.
• Meacham, Jon. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. New York: Random House, 2012.
• Onuf, Peter S. Jefferson's Empire: The Language of American Nationhood. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 2000.
• ----. The Mind of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2007.
• Schwartz, Bernard. Thomas Jefferson and Bolling v. Bolling: Law & the Legal Profession in Pre-Revolutionary America. San Marino, Ca.: Huntington Library, 1997.
• Sheehan, Bernard W. Seeds of Extinction: Jeffersonian Philanthropy and the American Indian. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1973.
• Sloan, Herbert E. Principle and Interest: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
• Steele, Brian Douglas. Thomas Jefferson and American Nationhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Religion

• Adams, Dickinson W., ed. Jefferson's Extracts from the Gospels: "The Philosophy of Jesus" and "The Life and Morals of Jesus." Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983. The introduction to this book, by the late Eugene Sheridan, is an excellent overview of Thomas Jefferson's religious development throughout his life. The book also contains facsimiles of Jefferson's two Bible compilations, and the full text of many of his letters in which he discusses religion.
• Gaustad, Edwin S. Sworn on the Altar of God: A Religious Biography of Thomas Jefferson. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1996.
• Holmes, David. Faiths of the Founding Fathers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. A good broad introduction to the religious faith of many of the Founding Fathers, including Franklin, Washington, Adams, Madison, Monroe, and Jefferson.
• Jefferson, Thomas. The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, Extracted Textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2011.  A faithful facsimile of Jefferson's second Bible compilation, with essays by Smithsonian staff on the history of the Bible and its conservation.
• Peterson, Merrill D., and Robert C. Vaughn, eds. The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: Its Evolution and Consequences in American History. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
• Sanford, Charles B. The Religious Life of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1984. An in-depth examination of Jefferson's religious beliefs.
• Sheridan, Eugene R. Jefferson and Religion. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 1998. The text of this book, part of the Monticello Monograph series, is almost identical to the introduction to Jefferson's Extracts from the Gospels (above).
• Spangler, Jewel L. Virginians Reborn: Anglican Monopoly, Evangelical Dissent, and the Rise of the Baptists in the Late Eighteenth Century. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2008. A good study of the evolution of religion in Virginia, setting the stage for Jefferson's Statute for Religious Freedom.
• Vicchio, Stephen J. Jefferson's Religion. Eugene, Or.: Wipf & Stock, 2007.
• Waldman, Stephen. Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America. New York: Random House, 2008. Another good overview of the historical context of Jefferson's religious beliefs, as well as those of other contemporaries.

Science and Exploration

• Bedini, Silvio A. Thomas Jefferson and His Copying Machines. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1984.
• Bedini, Silvio A. Thomas Jefferson: Statesman of Science. New York: Macmillan, 1990.  Contains some errors, but still useful.
• Cohen, I. Bernard. Science and the Founding Fathers: Science in the Political Thought of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and James Madison. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995.
• Cohen, I. Bernard, ed. Thomas Jefferson and the Sciences. New York: Arno Press, 1980. Reprinted articles.
• Greene, John C. American Science in the Age of Jefferson. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1984.
• Jackson, Donald. Thomas Jefferson & the Stony Mountains: Exploring the West from Monticello. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1981.
• Miller, Charles A. Jefferson and Nature. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.
• Ronda, James P. Thomas Jefferson and the Changing West. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997.
• Thomson, Keith. Jefferson's Shadow: The Story of His Science. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012.

Slavery

Slavery and the Enslaved Community at Monticello

• Bear, James A., Jr., ed. Jefferson at Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1967. Reminiscences of a Monticello slave, Isaac Jefferson (Granger) and  overseer Edmund Bacon.
• Betts, Edwin M., ed. Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book: With Commentary and Relevant Extracts from His Other Writings. Princeton: Published for the American Philosophical Society by Princeton University Press, 1953; reprints, 1976, 1999. Contains a facsimile of Jefferson's farm book, including information about farm operations, slaves, livestock, crops, manufactories, etc. Also includes brief articles and excerpts from relevant letters, although the essay about slavery is outdated. The manuscript of the farm book is available online at the Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society.
• Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008.
• Miller, John Chester. The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery. New York: Free Press, 1977; reprint, 1991.
• Onuf, Peter S., ed. Jeffersonian Legacies. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1993. Includes three essays on Jefferson and slavery.
• Reed, Bernetiae. The Slave Families of Thomas Jefferson: A Pictorial Study Book with an Interpretation of his Farm Book in Genealogy Charts. Greensboro, N.C.: Sylvest-Sarah, Inc., 2007.
• Smith, Clint. How the word is passed : A reckoning with the history of slavery across America. New York ; Boston ; London : Little, Brown and Company, 2021.
• Stanton, Lucia C. Free Some Day: The African American Families of Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 2000.
• ---. Slavery at Monticello. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1996.
• ---. "Those Who Labor for My Happiness": Slavery at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2012.

More General Works on Slavery and African-American History

• Genovese, Eugene D. Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made. New York: Pantheon, 1974.
• Goodheart, Lawrence B., et al., eds. Slavery in American Society. Lexington, Mass.: Heath, 1993.
• Kolchin, Peter. American Slavery, 1619-1877. New York: Hill & Wang, 1994.
• Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. New York: W.W. Norton, 1975.
• Morgan, Philip D. Slave Counterpoint: Black Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake and Lowcountry. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
• Swann-Wright, Dianne. A Way Out of No Way: Claiming Family and Freedom in the New South. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2002.
• Tate, Thad W. The Negro in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg. Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1965.
• Wright, Donald R. African Americans in the Early Republic: 1789-1831. Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1993.

Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson

• Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008.
• Gordon-Reed, Annette. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1997.
• Lewis, Jan Ellen, and Peter Onuf, eds. Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory & Civic Culture. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1999.
• Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Research Committee. Report on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 2000.

Thomas Jefferson's Writings

• Bear, James A., Jr., and Lucia C. Stanton, eds. Jefferson's Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767-1826. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997. 2 vols.
• Betts, Edwin M., ed. Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book: With Commentary and Relevant Extracts from Other Writings. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1999.
• Betts, Edwin M., ed. Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book, 1766-1824: With Relevant Extracts from His Other Writings. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1999.
• Betts, Edwin M., and James A. Bear, Jr., eds. Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1966; reprint, 1986.
• Boyd, Julian P. The Declaration of Independence: The Evolution of the Text. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1945.
• Boyd, Julian P., and others, eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950-present. 41 vols.
• Cappon, Lester J., ed. The Adams-Jefferson Letters. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina: 1959; reprint, 1988.
• Howell, Wilbur Samuel, ed. Jefferson's Parliamentary Writings. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.
• Jefferson, Thomas. The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1790. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1914; reprint, 2005.
• Looney, J. Jefferson, et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004-present. 11 vols.
• Peden, William, ed. Notes on the State of Virginia. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1954.
• Peterson, Merrill D., ed. Thomas Jefferson: Writings. New York: Library of America, 1984.  A good one-volume compilation of Jefferson's writings.
• Smith, James Morton. The Republic of Letters: The Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, 1776-1826. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995.
• Wilson, Douglas, ed. Jefferson's Literary Commonplace Book. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989.

Travel

• Adams, William Howard. The Paris Years of Thomas Jefferson. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997.
• Dumbauld, Edward. Thomas Jefferson, American Tourist : Being an Account of His Journeys in the United States of America, England, France, Italy, the Low Countries, and Germany. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1946; reprint, 1976.
• Maguire, Robert J., ed. The Tour to the Northern Lakes of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, May-June 1791: A Facsimile Edition of Their Travel Journals. Ticonderoga, N.Y.: Fort Ticonderoga, 1995.
• Moore, Roy, and Alma Moore. Thomas Jefferson's Journey to the South of France. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1999.
• Rice, Howard C. Thomas Jefferson's Paris. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976.
• Shackelford, George Green. Thomas Jefferson's Travels in Europe, 1784-1789. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.