Music featured prominently at Monticello. Many of members of Jefferson’s immediately family were known to play instruments, including Jefferson himself, his wife, daughters, a number of his granddaughters, and his three sons with Sally Hemings.
In this video, Monticello guide and ethnomusicologist Kyle Chattleton looks at an English Guitar in the Monticello collection owned by Jefferson's granddaughter Virginia and discusses what it tells us about Jefferson, his family, and the larger role music played in the lives of women of the gentry class in Virginia at the time.
More music and guitars at Monticello
- Article on the English Guitar in the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia
- Article on Guitars (including a "finger board on Spanish Guitar" notes in Jefferson's handwriting)
- Video about a guitar made from a Monticello Tulip Poplar tree
- "The favorite passion of my soul": Thomas Jefferson and Music
- A selection of music from the Monticello collection (free mp3 downloads)
This video was made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.