Studying the Past, Planning the Future: Commemorating the Centennial of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation

Conference Overview

For 100 years, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has been a custodian of both Monticello and Jefferson's historical legacy. The Foundation has led the public history community in how to best represent and study a seminal Founder in the revolutionary era, in engagement with a plantation’s enslaved community (and their descendants), and in plantation archaeology. This work has masterfully unearthed new discoveries, driven important scholarship, and has woven together compelling stories that embrace the Founding era, this place, and these people in all of their diverse aspects.

With our 100th anniversary, it is time to take a thoughtful look back at some of the groundbreaking and difficult work that the Foundation has performed over the past century so we can then look forward to the Foundation’s “second century” initiatives that are in the works and on the horizon.

The morning’s program featured a lecture by Ann Lucas, Senior Historian Emerita of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello followed by a panel discussion, “What We Built: The History of the TJF from Three Different Perspectives."

The panel was moderated by Susan Stein, Richard Gilder Senior Curator, Special Projects, Thomas Jefferson Foundation and featured comments from Niya Bates, Former Director of African American History and the Getting Word African American Oral History Project; Gary Sandling, Former TJF Vice President of Strategy & Content, and Douglas L. Wilson, Founding Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello.

After lunch, the conference resumed with a presentation by Susan Kern, Associate Professor and Director of the Historic Preservation Program at the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at the University of Maryland, followed by the panel discussion, “What we’re Building: The Present and Future of the TJF from Three Different Perspectives.”

The panel featured current TJF staff, including Chad Wollerton, Director of Digital Media and Strategy; Andrew Davenport, Public Historian and Director of Getting Word African American Oral History Project; and Stephen Light, Interim Vice President of Guest Experiences, Education, and Visitor Programs, moderated by Endrina Tay, Fiske and Marie Kimball Librarian.

Bill Barker, First-person Thomas Jefferson Interpreter, Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

Niya Bates, former Director of African American History and the Getting Word African American Oral History Project, at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Niya shared how and why the Getting Word African American Oral History Project was founded.

Leslie Greene Bowman, President Emerita, Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

Frank Cogliano, Interim Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, drew the day’s conversation to a close and reflect on our successes and hopes for the future.

Andrew Davenport, Public Historian and Director of Getting Word African American Oral History Project, spoke about a recent Mellon Grant and the collaborative creation of both the Digital Archive: From Slavery to Freedom and The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series.

P. Gardiner Hallock, Interim President, Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

Susan Kern, Associate Professor and Director of the Historic Preservation Program at the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at the University of Maryland. She is the author of the award-winning The Jeffersons at Shadwell, and is currently working on a book about the landmark preservation projects of the early twentieth century and their lasting influence on historical imagination about early America.

Stephen Light, Interim Vice President of Guest Experiences, Education and Visitor Programs, discussed the challenges and excitement of the interpretation of Thomas Jefferson in the twenty-first century.

Ann Lucas, Senior Historian Emerita, Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello. Ann provided a brief historical overview of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

Gary Sandling, Vice President, Historic Area Operations, Colonial Williamsburg. Formerly TJF Vice President of Strategy & Content. Gary reflected on the Mountaintop Project, an ambitious initiative which compressed decades of restoration work into a few short years…bringing back essential spaces in which to share the stories of those who lived and labored at Monticello.

Susan Stein, Richard Gilder Senior Curator, Special Projects, Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Susan moderated our first panel, comprised of former TJF staff, reflecting on “what we built”, and the important work TJF has accomplished.

Endrina Tay, Fiske and Marie Kimball Librarian, moderated the afternoon panel, which looked forward to our “second century” and features current TJF staff involved with these projects.

Douglas L. Wilson, Founding Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. Doug discussed the founding of the ICJS and how the Thomas Jefferson Foundation became a center of knowledge production.

Chad Wollerton, Director of Digital Media and Strategy, discussed the ways digital content connects broad audiences with Monticello.