Current Research and Special Initiatives
- Monticello Plantation Database
- Digital Archive of Archaeological Slavery
- Mulberry Row Reassessment
- Plantation Archaeological Survey
Research
The Research Department supports the scholarly objectives of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies as well as of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc. (Research inquiries from the general public are handled by the Jefferson Library.) In addition to its ongoing support of general Jeffersonian scholarship, the International Center has two primary areas of focus:
Monticello Plantation Economy - In collaboration with its Department of Archaeology, the International Center will conduct a long-term research project investigating the working Monticello plantation within the context of regional social and economic trends between 1740 and 1830.
Getting Word - The Monticello African-American Oral History Project, now based at the ICJS, was founded in 1993 and has received support from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, The Coca-Cola Company, and the Ford Foundation. Lucia Stanton, Project Director, and Dianne Swann-Wright, Project Historian, have traveled the county interviewing over one hundred descendants of former slaves at Monticello. See online exhibit.
Special Initiatives
"Transatlantic History" is a project of the International Center for Jefferson Studies to foster historical scholarship by creating a collaborative community of scholars whose work relates to the wide world in which Thomas Jefferson lived. With its partners at the University of Virginia, Oxford University, and the University of Edinburgh, the ICJS Transatlantic History project seeks to apply the latest in communication technologies to facilitate consistent engagement among faculty and students, and thereby enhance our understanding of the early modern world and define fresh areas of historical investigation. For more information, e-mail transatlantic_history@monticello.org.
Jefferson's Libraries - The Thomas Jefferson Foundation is compiling, for the first time, information about the books that Jefferson is known to have owned, or expressed an interest in, during his lifetime. Information from seven lists and catalogs will be edited, matched to bibliographic information and presented through a new website, now in development. View screenshots of the website »
Jefferson's Travels - The Thomas Jefferson Foundation is partnering with the Virginia Center for Digital History of the University of Virginia to prototype a website that provides a visualization of Jefferson's travels both at home and abroad. A demonstration version focusing on Jefferson's visit to England in March and April 1786 is posted at http://www.jeffersonstravels.org.