Jefferson, Thomas, The Papers of,

Jefferson, Thomas, The Papers of, ``one of the greatest editorial and publishing ventures in the nation's history,'' had its genesis at the time of Jefferson's 200th birthday in 1943. The project, President Dodds said, was ``truly the child of the creative imagination'' of Julian P. Boyd, University Librarian, later Professor of History, who was then serving as historian to the Thomas Jefferson Bicentennial Commission. Encouraged by the commission's warm endorsement and a gift of $200,000 from the New York Times Company, the University assumed editorial responsibility as sponsor of the project, and Princeton University Press agreed to publish the sixty-volume series. Other contributions have come from the Ford Foundation, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and individual donors. Invaluable assistance has been given by the Library of Congress, the Library of the University of Virginia, the National Archives, and upwards of 600 archival and historical institutions and private collectors all over the world.

The Papers, when completed, will include 18,000 letters written by Jefferson, 25,000 letters written to him, his public papers, and all his writings on the varied topics his wide-ranging mind touched upon -- in Professor Gilbert Chinard's words, ``the richest treasure house of historical information ever left done by a single man.''

Julian Boyd has been editor of the Papers from the beginning. Serving as associate editors for a time were Mrs. Mina R. Bryan (1944-1956) and Lyman H. Butterfield (1946-1951). Douglas Southall Freeman was chairman of the advisory committee from 1944 to 1953, Fiske Kimball from 1953 to 1955, David K. E. Bruce '19 from 1955 to 1977.

The first of the volumes appeared in 1950; by 1974 nineteen had been published, winning wide critical acclaim for their thorough editing, impeccable scholarship, and beautiful design. They also served as the prototype for such projects as the Hamilton Papers at Columbia, the Franklin Papers at Yale, the Adams Papers (edited by Lyman H. Butterfield) at the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Madison Papers at Chicago and Virginia, and the Wilson Papers at Princeton -- the first fruits of what the eminent historian Adrienne Koch called ``a bloodless revolution in American historiography.'' The ``Revolution'' had begun with President Dodds's presentation of the first volume of the Jefferson Papers to President Truman, who issued an executive order committing the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to a national program of documentary publication, which has enabled 200 different projects to undertake publication of the records of Americans in all fields of endeavor.

Jefferson visited Princeton in 1783 as a member of the Continental Congress, which met that year in Nassau Hall. Princeton gave him an honorary LL.D. in 1791; as President Dodds has pointed out, the College showed a fine sense of balance by awarding the same degree at the same time to Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson gave Princeton $100 toward rebuilding Nassau Hall after th~e fire of 1802.

From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).

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