Search

Start Over Collection The University of Virginia Jefferson Papers Level Item

James Madison letter to Thomas Jefferson [ViU-2023-0005] Folder 1818 April 20

Letter from James Madison to Thomas Jefferson submitting his first donation for founding the "Central College," which would become the University of Virginia. Docketed in Jefferson's hand on verso, "Madison Ja., Montpellier [missing text on margin] recd M [missing text on margin]"

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. The University of Virginia Jefferson Papers
  3. Thomas Jefferson letters and manuscript

Proposed list of instruments for the classes of Natural philosophy and Mathematics, Thomas Jefferson [ViU-2025-0126] 0.03 Cubic Feet One letter-sized file folder Folder 1824 April 26

This is one eight-page manuscript is entitled "Proposed list of instruments for the classes of [N]at[ural] philosophy & Mathematics," written by Thomas Jefferson around April 26, 1824. The instruments recommended by Jefferson were to outfit the departments of science in the Academical Village classrooms and laboratories at the University of Virginia, which held its first term in 1826. The listed is organized through headings by equipment requirements for each scientific department at the University: "Genl purposes," "Mechanics," "Hydrostatics," "Optics," "Electricity Etc.," "Astronomy," and "Miscellaneous." Jefferson's list includes a "very accurate set of weights" outlined with a table, a "model of Braham's fire engine," "a good Kaleidoscope," a "simple Planetarium, 3f diam. with Sun, moon & earth only," a "Lithographic press," an "Electric battery," a "Turning lathe with Tools for working in wood & brass," a "Magic lanthern," "12 f of brass chain for electrical machine," a camera lucida, a variety of pumps, a charcoal furnace, and many other scientific dependencies. For his request of "a very large supply" of glass tubes, Jefferson included three simple drawings of his preferred tube types. This list of proposed instruments was penned by Jefferson shortly before Francis Walker Gilmer, an emissary of Jefferson, was dispatched to Europe to gather mechanical and scientific instruments, as well as recruit professors from London, Cambridge, and Edinburgh colleges for the forming University of Virginia. Gilmer returned to Virginia at the end of 1824 with five professorships filled. Three small paper fragments from the manuscript are also present.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. The University of Virginia Jefferson Papers
  3. Thomas Jefferson letters and manuscript

Content Warning

ARVAS is an aggregator of archival resources. ARVAS does not have control of the descriptive language used in our members’ finding aids.

Finding aids may contain historical terms and phrases, reflecting the shared attitudes and values of the community from which they were collected, but are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical or mental ability; religion; sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Many institutions and organizations are in the process of reviewing and revising their descriptive language, with the intent to describe materials in more humanizing, inclusive, and harm-reductive ways. As members revise their descriptive language, their changes will eventually be reflected in their ARVAS finding aids.

Limit your search

  • The University of Virginia Jefferson Papers 4