Virginia and the University

By: Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor and Chair, Department of Architectural History From these books along with travel Jefferson learned about architecture and the type he preferred was controlled by rules that included geometry, symmetry, balance, composition and proportion. The five orders: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite were the controlling element and from them and […]

By: Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor and Chair, Department of Architectural History Jefferson’s knowledge of architecture came from a variety of different sources since schools of architecture did not exist in North America. The major way he learned came through books, travel and observation, and construction. The architect’s role in Jefferson’s time lay not just as […]

By: Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor and Chair, Department of Architectural History Of Thomas Jefferson’s many interests and accomplishments his architectural creations rank as one of the most important. He played a central role in creating architecture for the young United States of America that would endure well into the twentieth century and his buildings and […]

By: Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor and Chair, Department of Architectural History Thomas Jefferson visited England three times: July 25-31, 1784, March 11-April 28 1786, and October 8-22, 1789. In addition to this first-hand knowledge, his large architectural library contained a substantial number of English architectural books. A book that Jefferson greatly valued, The Architecture of […]

by Ryan Hargraves Senior Associate Dean of Undergraduate Admissions This fall, an old (well, oldish) dean tried something new.  Late this summer, I was fortunate to meet German Professor, Bill McDonald (aka Herr Mac), who described to me his new teaching method designed to maximize participant engagement.  With rusty German language chops and Herr Mac’s […]

By Kevin Edds “No jokes, no flattery, no sympathy. This is a serious business.” These were the words spoken by U.Va. President Edwin Alderman to a crowd of supporters at a “football mass meeting”—or pep rally—in 1924.  The scene was the precursor to the U.Va.-UNC football game, a rivalry that was born in 1892.  That […]

By John Ragosta I think that I am still recovering from the 2014 Summer Jefferson Symposium. While it was all great fun, speaking for myself, the intense mental focus for several days on Thomas Jefferson’s personal relationships, and how they help us to understand him and the politics of the early republic, was mentally very […]

by John Ragosta Thomas Jefferson, on his way to college at William and Mary, first met Patrick Henry at a holiday party in 1759 at the home of Nathaniel West Dandridge. (The home, known as Oldfields, still stands.) Henry, six years older than the aspiring student, was already married with several children. Yet, with good […]

By John Ragosta Earlier this week, Althea Brooks from Lifetime Learning in Alumni and Parent Engagement sent me an article concerning Morven, the 3,000 acre property which John W. Kluge donated to the University of Virginia, most of which had in its time been purchased by Thomas Jefferson for his secretary, William Short. Those that had […]

By Andrew Burstein Source: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/02/thomas-jefferson-france-lafayette-monticello-103303.html#.UvoWw7RDVCM In the final years of Thomas’s Jefferson’s life, America’s best friend in Europe was also the last surviving commander of Continental Army forces. The Marquis de Lafayette was a fatherless French aristocrat, inspired by the Declaration of Independence, who outfitted a vessel and sailed the Atlantic to commit to the […]

Dear Alumni, Parents and Friends: Every person tends to fit others into their own worldview. In our minds, we shape them to our own understanding. This tendency was particularly strong in Jefferson. Thus, when George Washington became concerned that Jefferson’s and Madison’s Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions threatened the union and convinced Patrick Henry to enter […]

By John Ragosta I know that it is a silly question in many ways: Imagine first explaining to Tom computers, video, the internet, and then modern education. You can see where this goes. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Classes), though, have become one of the hottest topics in higher education as lawmakers and administrators look to […]

By John Ragosta A pending auction of a small survey map (smaller than a standard piece of paper) has historic collectors all aflutter. It is a 200 year old plat for a 1300 acre farm in central Virginia originally called Indian Camp. What is generating all of the excitement is that the plat was hand-drawn […]

by David T. Gies Commonwealth Professor of Spanish When students —or their parents— ask me if they should consider studying abroad, I usually answer with a simple, elegant word. “Duh!” I think that means “Yes.” Actually, what I THINK to myself is something more along these lines:  “What??!  Are you CRAZY?  UVa has some of […]

by Andrew O’Shaughnessy (Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello) On September 14, 2004, Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy, the Saunders Director of Monticello’s Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, presented a talk on King George III’s role in the American Revolution and Jefferson’s view of his former sovereign. This talk was […]

by Bruce Boucher, Director, U.Va. Art Museum The Lawn of the University of Virginia is one of the great architectural masterpieces of America. It embodies not only Thomas Jefferson’s belief in the power of knowledge, but also the symbolic form in which it could be manifested in a university setting. He employed the classical orders […]