Celebrate Independence Day with Monticello!

Your gift helps support our civic and educational programming for millions of Americans every year.

GIVE NOW

During his retirement years at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson spent his days “drudging at the writing table.” Indeed, he wrote nearly 19,000 letters during his lifetime. So what happened to all those letters after Jefferson’s death?

In this live Q&A, Senior Managing Editor of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series Lisa Francavilla and Monticello guide Kyle Chattleton discuss Jefferson’s correspondence, where those documents are today, and how we use them to better understand the past.

Recent Videos and Podcasts