Library of Virginia: Thomas Jefferson Gubernatorial Papers

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Central staircase at the Library of Virginia.
Photo courtesy Library of Virginia.

Library of Virginia (Thomas Jefferson Gubernatorial Papers)

800 East Broad Street

Richmond, VA

Website:  Library of Virginia

The Treasure:  The official gubernatorial records of Thomas Jefferson from his two 1-year terms as governor, 1779-1781.

Accessibility:  Specific library collections such as the Thomas Jefferson Gubernatorial Papers are only placed on view for special exhibitions. At other times, the fragile documents are preserved in cool, dry, and dark storage as recommended by current best practices. Thanks to the Save America’s Treasures grant and matching funds from the Roller-Bottimore Foundation, many of these documents are currently in the process of being conserved. Following treatment, they will be digitized for greater accessibility.

Background:  The Revolutionary War years were a turbulent and dangerous time to serve in public office. Up until Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, Virginia was under the leadership of governors appointed by the English monarchy. If the appointee happened to live in England, the crown colony was managed by a lieutenant-governor, appointed by the crown governor.

Then came Revolution. Virginia was ready for freedom and already had their crown governor, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, on the run at the time that Thomas Jefferson was composing the Declaration of Independence for the Second Continental Congress. The Declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776, and in Virginia, Patrick Henry took office as the new governor on July 5. Henry served for three consecutive 1-year terms.

Jefferson signature and state seal on a 1781 document
from the Thomas Jefferson Gubernatorial Papers.

Jefferson followed Patrick Henry as governor but it was not a congenial role for him, especially near the end of his second term. Failing to hold back the approaching British troops of General Benedict Arnold, Thomas Jefferson evacuated the government from Richmond to Charlottesville in early 1781. The British continued to advance and Jefferson and his family retreated further west to his Poplar Forest house, southwest of Lynchburg, where his term in office ended. The General Assembly expressed disappointment with his leadership during this time.

The Library of Virginia cares for a major collection of letters and other documents pertaining to the Virginia Governor’s Office during the first six administrations:  Patrick Henry (July 6, 1776-June 1, 1779), Thomas Jefferson (June 2, 1779-June 3, 1781), William Fleming (June 4-12, 1781), Thomas Nelson (June 12-November 22, 1781), David Jameson (November 22-30, 1781), and Benjamin Harrison (December 1, 1781-November 30, 1784).

For their Save America’s Treasures request, the Library of Virginia focused on the most famous of these governors, Thomas Jefferson. Within the Jefferson collection, there are 1,992 manuscript pages and three letterbooks. Jefferson’s correspondents at this time included John Jay, James Madison, Baron Frederich von Steuben, John Paul Jones, and the Marquis de Lafayette.

Senior Conservator Leslie Courtois from Etherington Conservation Services is currently working to delaminate and conserve the documents at the Library of Virginia’s conservation laboratories. The Library of Virginia has mounted this informative video on the treatments:

Notes from the Editor:  In many ways, Jefferson’s stint as governor of Virginia was a low point in his life. But Jefferson—a truly great writer and thinker—is a hero of mine, so I’d like to accentuate the positive. After all, this came in the middle of a ten-year period, 1776-1786, during which Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, Virginia’s “Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom,” and the book Notes on the State of Virginia—more greatness than most mere mortals accomplish in a lifetime!

Jefferson introduced the “Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom” in 1779 while serving as a Delegate in the Virginia General Assembly. While the bill took seven years to finally pass in 1786, it was a milestone statement of separation of church and state and a clear influence on the future writing of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Jefferson’s only full-length book published during his life, Notes on the State of Virginia was inspired by a set of questions he received while serving as governor of Virginia. He began writing the book while in office. In 1784, Jefferson had 200 copies privately printed. Subsequent public and enlarged editions sold well. Conceived primarily as a volume on the state’s natural history, Notes on the State of Virginia turned out to be not only a state-of-the-art scientific description of the state but also a heartfelt discourse on Jeffersonian political theory and philosophy.

Other Recommended Sites:  From the background section above: “The British continued to advance and Jefferson and his family retreated further west to his Poplar Forest house, southwest of Lynchburg, where his term in office ended.” A good deal less known than his famous Monticello residence, Jefferson’s Poplar Forest home is open to the public as well. It’s another Jefferson architectural masterpiece and a very personal place for him where he could “enjoy the solitude of a hermit.”

Three treated documents from the Thomas Jefferson Gubernatorial Papers
at the Library of Virginia.

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