Cabinet (Room)
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In his Cabinet, Jefferson answered thousands of letters, recorded the weather, and managed his plantations. The refurnished Cabinet, featuring many original possessions, and a documented green color scheme for the walls. This room served as a highly functional space where Jefferson kept books, papers, works of art, scientific apparatus, and a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
The restoration of Jefferson’s Cabinet was generously supported by David M. Rubenstein and Grady and Lori Durham and family.
Order: Tuscan
Source: Palladio
Color: Green wallpaper and coordinating floral border paper based on historical evidence
Current wallpaper was derived from samples found in a grammar book used at Monticello in the early 19th century.
Purpose of Room: Study for reading, writing, correspondence, and scientific observation
Unusual architectural features: Part of a "suite" of Jefferson's private rooms, along with the Book Room, later becoming the South Square Sitting Room, Library, Greenhouse, and Bed Chamber; adjoins Jefferson's Bed Chamber via a passage and an alcove bed opening onto two rooms, but with a wallpapered folding screen affixed to the Cabinet side; plan based on an octagon, a favored architectural shape for Jefferson
Furnishings of note: Reading and writing arrangement, which included a revolving chair, a table with a revolving top, a revolving stand on a tripod base, and a polygraph copying machine; sofa used for reading and napping
Related Objects
- John Adams (Sculpture)
- Dumbbell
- Writing Table
- Polygraph
- Revolving Stand
- Revolving Armchair by Burling
- Telescope
- Theodolite
- Whalebone and Ivory Walking Stick
- Windsor Bench
Primary Source References
[1800 November 25]. (Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph). "[A catalog of books] is lying I believe either on the table in my book room, or under the window by the red couch in the Cabinet."[1]
1801 October 8. (Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph). "[F]rom an actual survey of the plantation I occupy there (which you will see in one of the desk drawers in my study) ...."[2]
1801 December 4. (Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph). "[I]t is in one of the volumes ... which you will find in the press on the right side of the cherry sash door in my cabinet."[3]
1806 January 31. (Jefferson to James Ogilvie). "[T]he arrangement begins behind the partition door leading out of the Library into the Cabinet, & proceeds from left to right round the room; then entering the Cabinet it begins at the Eastern angle, & goes round that room."[4]
1808 October 4. (Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph). "[B]ut I think it must be in one of the cartoons in the Cabinet window near which I usually sit to write, that is to say near the red turning chair."[5]
1809 August. (Margaret Bayard Smith). "His cabinet and chamber contained every convenience and comfort, but were plain. His bed is built in the wall which divides his chamber and cabinet."[6]
1819 July 28. (Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph). "[I]n my Cabinet, & in the window on the right of my writing table you will see 4. or 5. cartoons of papers. the 2d & 3d of these contain a compleat set of alphabeted papers ...."[7]
Further Sources
- Beiswanger, William L. Monticello in Measured Drawings. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2011.
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References
- ^ PTJ, 32:259. Transcription available at Founders Online.
- ^ PTJ, 35:414. Transcription available at Founders Online.
- ^ PTJ, 36:20. Transcription available at Founders Online.
- ^ Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. Transcription available at Founders Online.
- ^ Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society. Transcription available at Founders Online.
- ^ Gaillard S. Hunt, ed., The First Forty Years of Washington Society: Portrayed by the Family Letters of Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith (Margaret Bayard) from the Collection of Her Grandson, J. Henley Smith (New York: Scribner, 1906), 72.
- ^ PTJ:RS, 14:574. Transcription available at Founders Online.