Visitor’s Perspective: Where’s the “New Library Complex”?
This is kind of a fun video posted on YouTube by Bill, a first-time visitor to Grounds, shot back in April:
Bill also posted a video on his trip to Monticello.
Words of Our Founder: The Declaration of Independence
Most of us learned “We hold these truths to be self-evident …” many years ago. But have you ever read Thomas Jefferson’s entire Declaration of Independence? National Public Radio started a tradition 22 years ago of having its hosts read aloud the whole text in honor of the Fourth of July; you can listen to this year’s reading here, and follow along in the text below (after the break).
Celeb Watchers: Richard Dreyfuss is Coming
If you happen to come across someone who looks a lot like Richard Dreyfuss tomorrow, it might really be Richard Dreyfuss.
The acclaimed Hollywood actor will be at the Darden School of Business on Tuesday to address the annual conference of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground partnership. He’ll be joined by director Ron Maxwell (”Gettysburg,” “Gods and Generals”); both have a keen interest in civics and history education.
Sixth-graders at Sutherland Middle School will have their chance to be discovered, as they will show off history films they produced with the help of the folks at Monticello.
Attendance at the conference is by registration only.
According to the organization’s website, “The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising national awareness of the unparalleled history in the region, which generally follows the Old Carolina Road (Rt. 15/231) from Gettysburg, through Maryland, to Monticello in Albemarle County.”
Community, Darden, On Grounds, People, Thomas Jefferson | Monday, June 21st | By: Dan @11:43 am | 1 Comment
Oh, Those Wacky Graduate Architecture Students!
First-year graduate landscape architecture students Joey Hays, Alexa Bush, Jen Lynch and Seth Porcello decided to welcome their future peers during Friday’s Architecture School Spring Open House for Admitted Graduate Students with a rather unique piece of art. The pink things are little plastic piggy-bank busts of Thomas Jefferson; the sod recalls the Lawn; and do not worry — it’s fog, not smoke.
(Thanks, Derry.)
On Grounds, School of Architecture, Student Life, Thomas Jefferson, admission | Thursday, April 1st | By: Dan @1:48 pm | 0 Comments
New Books Adds Fuel to Jefferson-Hemings Controversy
The controversy over whether Thomas Jefferson fathered children by his slave, Sally Hemings, has raged for the better part of two centuries. Now, publicity materials for a new book declare that it “definitively destroys the cultural myth that Jefferson had any relationship with Ms. Hemings.”
The book, “In Defense Of Thomas Jefferson” by William G. Hyland Jr., purports to prove “not only that the evidence against Jefferson is lacking, but that in fact he is entirely innocent of the charge of having sexual relations with Hemings.”
Interestingly, the release notes that the book was nominated for a “2009 Virginia Literacy (sic) Award.” The winner of the Library of Virginia’s Virginia Literary Award in the nonfiction category for 2009 (as well as the Pulitzer Prize for history)? “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family,” by Annette Gordon-Reed, a leading proponent of the Hemings-Jefferson link whose first book, “Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy” (1998), touched of the latest round of historical debate.
Given that both Hyland and Gordon-Reed are lawyers by training, I think a mock trial might be in order here. How ’bout it, Law School?
T.J. Rocks Out on Video
What would happen if the Founding Fathers did a rock video? Maybe something like this (check out TJ on the fiddle and lead vocals and Ben Franklin playin’ the ax):
The video was put together by a group called Soomo Publishing. Here are the lyrics, and here is their explanation.
It’s a parody of a video, “Apologize,” originally produced by Timbaland and recorded by One Republic.
TJ Architecture Medalist Lawrence Halprin Dies
The Contra Costa (Calif.) Times is reporting the death of landscape architect Lawrence Halprin on Sunday, at age 93. Halprin, who received U.Va.’s Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture in 1979, is best known in these parts for his design of Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.
You may also have come across his work in Washington, D.C., where he designed the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, located near the Jefferson Memorial on the banks of the Tidal Basin; and in San Francisco, where he designed Ghirardelli Square.
The Times report quotes Randolph Hester, professor of landscape architecture, environmental planning and urban design at the University of California at Berkeley, as calling Halprin “one of a handful of the most important landscape architects of the modern era.”
News, People, School of Architecture, Thomas Jefferson | Tuesday, October 27th | By: Dan @1:37 pm | 0 Comments
This Just In: TJ Awards to Casteen, Parsons
Thomas Jefferson Awards — the highest honors given to members of the University community — were bestowed upon outgoing U.Va. President John T. Casteen III and J. Thomas Parsons, chairman of the Department of Microbiology and F. Palmer Weber Professor of Medical Research. The awards were made at this afternoon’s Fall Convocation at the John Paul Jones Arena.
Read more about the awards here.
Medical School, News, People, President Casteen, Thomas Jefferson | Friday, October 16th | By: Dan @4:14 pm | 0 Comments
TJ Awards: Going for Two
Each year at Fall Convocation, the University bestows a Thomas Jefferson Award to recognize exemplary service to the U.Va. community — the highest internal honor it offers.
Now there’s a new twist: a second award, newly established this year by the Alumni Board of Trustees of the University of Virginia Endowment Fund Inc., to recognize excellence in scholarship.
These awards will be made on Oct. 16, but there’s still time to make a nomination; the deadline is noon Thursday.
Last year’s winners, pictured below, were Dean of Admission John A. “Jack” Blackburn, since deceased, and Dr. Sharon L. Hostler.
News, On Grounds, People, Thomas Jefferson | Tuesday, September 22nd | By: Dan @3:26 pm | 0 Comments
New Alumni Magazine is in the Mail
The next edition of the University of Virginia Magazine is in the mail, but you can get an online taste right now.
The cover story profiles cartoonist Jen Sorensen of “Slowpoke” fame. Other articles include a feature on Thomas Jefferson’s designs for the Academical Village; another on Virginia Quarterly Review editor Ted Genoways’ return to Eagle, Alaska after a devastating flood; and a piece on professor Bankole Johnson’s work with anti-addiction therapies and medicines. There’s plenty more in the Table of Contents, plus a few online-only goodies.
Check it out.
Alumni, News, People, Thomas Jefferson, research | Wednesday, August 26th | By: Dan @5:10 pm | 0 Comments
Visiting Palladio’s Villas in Venice and Vicenza, Virginia-Style
Kelli Palmer of the Office of the President writes in with photos of the recent “Virginia Voyage” to Italy, where a party of travelers from U.Va. — including President John T. Casteen III and his wife, Betsy — toured Vicenza and Venice. They were there to check out villas designed by Italy’s famed Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio, whose work inspired Thomas Jefferson’s designs for the University and Monticello. (After viewing the 513 slides Palmer posted on Shutterfly, one might definitely conclude that Jefferson’s work was a little more understated than Palladio’s.) Pictured above is Palladio’s Villa Almerico, or “La Rotonda.”
Incidentally, this year marks the 500th anniversary of Palladio’s birth.
Alumni, International, People, Thomas Jefferson | Thursday, July 9th | By: Dan @2:05 pm | 2 Comments
A Look Back: The University in 1980
On the heels of yesterday’s news about the University’s impressive eighth-place finish in the Directors’ Cup, which measures the all-around performance of its athletics teams, it is probably worth a moment of reflection to realize that it has not always been so.
Thus we take you back to 1980, when U.Va. was just beginning to discover big-time college athletics (thanks to a certain 7-foot-4 basketball player from Harrisonburg), and big-time college athletics was somewhat flummoxed to discover U.Va. To help the rest of America understand the uniqueness that is Mister Jefferson’s University, Sports Illustrated magazine published an explanatory feature, available through its online “Vault.”
To appreciate how The University got to such a pretty pass in athletics, it is necessary to understand that Mister Jefferson’s “Academical Village,” as he styled it, has been perhaps the most unusual public institution in America, flourishing with contradictions to the point of schizophrenia.
It’s worth a read, if for no other reason to compare what has changed since then — and what has not.
Most-Viewed Press Releases
Now, through the magic of Google Analytics, here are the three most read (or at least page-viewed) press releases for last week, June 22-28:
- Jefferson’s Parapet to be Restored at Pavilion X
- Changes at the Top: Wynne, Abramson to Lead Board
- Citizens in 34 Countries Show Implicit Bias Linking Males More Than Females with Science
Board of Visitors, News, On Grounds, Thomas Jefferson, research | Monday, June 29th | By: Dan @3:15 pm | 0 Comments
Wow — Great Take on T.J.
Check this piece out from the New York Times. It’s a beautifully and somewhat whimsically illustrated (yet serious) treatment of Thomas Jefferson, through the eyes and experience of Maira Kalman and her recent visit to Monticello.
(For more on Maira Kalman, check out her Web site.)
TJ Holds Steady in Presidents’ Ranking
In honor of Presidents Day, C-SPAN has updated its 2000 poll of historians, asking them to rank all 42 past presidents (Barack Obama not yet included) in terms of their presidential leadership.
Despite another decade of questions about his views on slavery and charges and counter-charges about his involvement with Sally Hemings, U.Va. founder Thomas Jefferson held his No. 7 overall ranking, trailing only Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy.
Jefferson got high marks in the categories of relations with Congress (fifth overall), administrative skills (sixth), vision/setting an agenda (sixth) and performance within the context of the times (sixth). Historians were not quite as high on his pursuit of justice for all (16th) and his international relations (18th).
Bill Clinton jumped six spots to No. 15 overall, and Ulysses S. Grant made the biggest leap, from No. 33 to No. 23. (Maybe his descendants carried on some sort of quiet PR campaign?) Rutherford B. Hayes had a tough decade, falling seven places to Grant’s old spot at 33rd.
George W. Bush made his ranking debut at an unimpressive No. 36, ahead of only Millard Fillmore, Warren Harding, William Henry Harrison, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan.
