Subj: Thomas Jefferson's Scrapbooks Found
Date: 09/29/1999 8:26:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: <A HREF="mailto:AOL News">AOL News</A>
Thomas Jefferson's Scrapbooks Found
.c The Associated Press
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - Scholars believe four scrapbooks recently
uncovered by a history professor were put together by Thomas Jefferson and
offer further insight into the life of the nation's third president.
The red leather-bound books contain thousands of newspaper articles from all
over the East Coast dating back to Jefferson's presidency, from 1801-08. They
indicate that Jefferson, usually considered a man of logic and reason, was
more sentimental that scholars have thought.
Researchers once believed the scrapbooks were put together by Jefferson's
granddaughters but recently discovered that some notations on the clippings
match Jefferson's handwriting. Some of the clippings also are pasted on
envelopes with Jefferson's address.
``We are confident these books were compiled by Jefferson himself,'' said
James Horn, director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies in
Charlottesville.
Robert M.S. McDonald, a professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point,
N.Y., found the 6-by-9-inch books this summer at the University of Virginia's
Alderman Library while doing research.
``I was stunned,'' McDonald said. ``I realized that they not only belonged to
Jefferson, but also that they were Jefferson's creation. It is not every day
that new Jefferson materials come to light. And these are a treasure trove of
information.''
McDonald found an oak leaf pressed into one book between an article on
friendship and a poem titled ``Scenes from My Youth.'' Jefferson and his
boyhood friend, Dabney Carr, played together on Monticello and used to study
under an oak tree.
The two promised each other the survivor would bury the other under that tree.
``That was the genesis of the Monticello family graveyard,'' McDonald said.
Carr was the first buried where the oak tree was believed to have been.
Researchers say one of the scrapbooks was given to the library in 1851. The
three others were donated in 1951 by Jefferson family members.
AP-NY-09-29-99 2025EDT
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