UVA Today’s Matt Kelly reports:
As graduation approaches, the scaffolding will be coming down from the west side of the Rotunda, starting Monday. no doubt welcome news for proud, camera-toting parents.
The scaffolding, erected around the building last May, was part of the first phase of extensive renovations and restorations to the centerpiece of the University. In this phase, workers replaced the leaking roof and the oculus skylight, and repaired the exterior brick walls, windows and ornamental sheet metal.
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Thomas Jefferson,
Traffic | Friday, April 19th | By: Dan @3:31 pm |
Sometimes, even the University Library doesn’t know about all of the things it has in its collection.
Take the strange case of Adolf Hitler’s tax returns. While searching around for Headlines in December, I stumbled upon an odd article in London: The News, an otherwise forgettable piece that included this rather startling passage: “Hitler’s tax returns from 1924 too 1935 can be seen either in the Bavarian State Archives or the Alderman Library of the University of Virginia, USA.”
I had never heard of U.Va. possessing any of Hitler’s papers, so I queried Alderman’s nearly infallible reference desk. The librarians there know nothing of it.
Still, it seemed to be a pretty specific reference, naming not only the University, but Alderman Library specifically. So I emailed Molly Schwartzburg, a curator at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. And then I forgot about it for more than a month.
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News,
Thomas Jefferson | Wednesday, April 17th | By: Dan @4:26 pm |
We received a note earlier this month from Amy Yancey, the executive director for development at the Jeffersonian Grounds Initiative, with an update on the work on the Rotunda. Amy’s note is dated March 13, so undoubtedly more progress has been made in the 12 days since, but it gives a nice overview of where we stand.
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Thomas Jefferson | Monday, March 25th | By: Dan @3:19 pm |
Come Friday morning, you may notice a rather brightly colored bus parked on the plaza outside Clark Hall. In fact, it would be hard not to notice the bus pictured above, no?
According to an announcement from the public affairs network, the bus is on tour to promote a new series about U.S. presidents’ wives, from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. “First Ladies: Influence and Image” began Monday, but if you missed the debut, don’t worry — C-SPAN plans to profile every single First Lady, so there is probably a whole lot more to come.
According to the release, the bus is visiting “key historic places in the first ladies’ lives, from hometowns to universities to presidential libraries.” Thus, it will be at Clark from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., then will move on to Monticello from 2 to 5 p.m.
Visitors will be invited aboard the bus, where they will learn about C-SPAN and its offerings through interactive technology, according to the release.
(Courtesy the Thomas Jefferson Foundation)
We haven’t caught up recently with the Sage of Monticello, but a couple of notes came across the UVA Today news desk this morning that seemed worth passing along.
• The Wall Street Journal has a great article today about quotes that are erroneously attributed to Thomas Jefferson, a phenomenon that has only exploded in the digital age.
For example, this one: ”All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” Nice sentiment, stirring call to action, but … Jefferson never said it, apparently.
The problem has grown nettlesome enough for Anna Berkes, a research librarian at the Jefferson Library at Monticello, operated by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, that she has set up a “Spurious Quotations” page on the Monticello website. (There’s also a page of verified Jefferson quotes for just about any subject, which I suspect is bookmarked by speechwriters everywhere.)
• Speaking of Monticello … if you haven’t been there in awhile, NOW is the time to go.
To celebrate of the 25th anniversary of the designation of Monticello and the University of Virginia’s Academical Village as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Monticello is rolling back admission prices to 1987 levels — which means $5. HOWEVER, the price is only good from today through Tuesday, so you’ll need to hustle.
Thomas Jefferson | Friday, December 7th | By: Dan @3:16 pm |
Dinner with President Sullivan. Golf with Dean of Students Allen Groves. Batting practice with Cavalier baseball coach Brian O’Connor. A champagne air tour of Central Virginia. A 1980s-vintage poster lampooning “How the Dean Stole Easters.”
Any of these, and many, many more items, are being auctioned online to raise funds for the $51 million Rotunda restoration project. This fall’s auction is a new, expanded version of a fairly successful effort that began in the spring and raised $10,000.
“The Restoration Auction” is the effort of a committee of folks, according to its website (which may put it in the running for the most creative, effective and productive committee ever assembled).
The organizers have posted a statement of purpose: “In our day, restoring the Rotunda’s cracking structure and crumbling façade carries greater significance than the renovation of an old building. It speaks to the responsibility and privilege we have to honor the legacy with which we all have been entrusted.”
The site also includes a quick overview of the restoration plans.
You can read more about the newly revamped effort from The Cavalier Daily and WVIR-NBC-29 in Charlottesville.
News,
On Grounds,
Thomas Jefferson | Thursday, October 18th | By: Dan @3:11 pm |
U.Va. is a great place to study. And Charlottesville is a great place to live.
OK, you shouldn’t take my word for it. After all, I’m a graduate and employee of this fine institution, and a Charlottesville native.
But lots of other folks are saying so:
- Forbes magazine named U.Va. the top public university in the country, apart from the service academies (which don’t charge tuition, which sort of skews the affordability and debt part of the ranking equation), as reported in UVA Today.
- The August/September issue of National Geographic Traveler features U.Va. and Monticello among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in an article titled “2012 World Wonders.”
(Nuts! I had a third example, a USA Today ranking of college towns that lists Charlottesville sixth, but upon closer inspection, it turns out to be two years old.)
Community,
Thomas Jefferson | Friday, August 3rd | By: Dan @3:47 pm |
It’s a pretty quiet Friday afternoon here at UVA Today headquarters. Given that it’s the last working day before a three-day weekend, and the President is in Asia somewhere, and graduation was last weekend, and Reunions Weekend is next weekend, and the governor invited state employees to leave two hours early — well, you get the picture. Not a lot happening on Grounds.
We did find this little nugget: The Lifetime Learning Program in U.Va.’s Office of Engagement has a new blog, “Thoughts From the Lawn,” that it describes as “a blog that will share weekly posts from U.Va.’s faculty members on relevant topics, upcoming lectures and educational events. University of Virginia’s alumni, parents and friends are welcome to share in these discussions.”
A quick once-over finds a lot of Thomas Jefferson-related material, including a really interesting piece on an authentic-looking reproduction of a Jefferson letter that a bank used as advertising in 1936. Apparently, folks continue to come across this reproduction and believe they have discovered something very valuable.
(If the letter above looks familiar, and you were counting on auctioning it at Sotheby’s to fund your retirement, well, I’m sorry I ruined your weekend.)
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On Grounds,
Thomas Jefferson | Friday, May 25th | By: Dan @3:31 pm |
Looking for a good reason to spend a blissful, long summer weekend on the Grounds of the University?
I’m told there are still a few spaces left in the U.Va. Office of Engagement‘s annual Summer Jefferson Symposium (modeled after the successful “Summer on the Lawn” series that was formerly run by the School of Continuing and Professional Studies), to be held June 21-24. “Jefferson’s Love of the Written Word” features Jefferson experts, including U.Va. history professor Peter Onuf, and U.Va. President Teresa A. Sullivan. There are lectures, tours, meals and receptions, and participants have the option of staying on Grounds at Brown College. (You can read the whole schedule here, and register here.)
The event is part of the Office of Engagement’s Lifetime Learning program, so if the Jefferson Symposium doesn’t work for you, you may want to check out some of the other options.
Together with the former owner and winemaking team at Screaming Eagle Winery in Napa Valley, Calif., who are currently working together on a new project called Cultivate Wines, the U.Va. Alumni Association has created perhaps the perfect graduation gift: 1819 Red Wine, which commemorates U.Va.’s upcoming 200th anniversary.
The offering is the first in a 10-vintage series, according to the Cultivate Wines website. A quarter of each bottle’s $55 sales price will go toward the purchaser’s choice of either the Rotunda Restoration Project or the AccessUVA financial aid program. Each shipment includes a note from U.Va. architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson.
Wilson also will choose the label art for each of the annual vintages, “to create a unique pictorial history of the University,” according to Cultivate’s description.
1819 Red is described as “a rich blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from Napa Valley. In the glass, this deeply colored wine offers dusty aromas of cedar and loam over a core of blackberry and dark plum. The palate has a weighty entry that carries through to a balanced finish.
“At the table, this wine will pair well with roasted meats and rich stews. The quality of the fruit combined with the characteristics of the 2009 vintage promise great drinking both now and over the long term.”
AccessUVA,
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On Grounds,
Thomas Jefferson | Wednesday, May 9th | By: Dan @4:07 pm |
It’s almost become a joke around UVA Today headquarters: Someone will inquire about drumming up publicity for an event, and when they’re asked when it’s happening, the seemingly inevitable response is … April 13.
There are Major Big Deal events, like the Thomas Jefferson Medal presentations and speeches and the annual Founder’s Day Tree Planting (this year honoring the late architecture professor, Mario di Valmarana). There are conflicting 6 p.m. baseball and men’s lacrosse games that are sure to cause parking headaches at U-Hall. Locally, there’s the new Tom Tom Founders Festival. There are conferences and speakers galore — just check the University calendar.
It’s a zoo — literally! The “Taus for Paws” SPCA fundraiser at Madison Bowl will include a “puppy petting zoo.”
Our best advice: Find a parking space and get out and enjoy as much as you can. The weather is supposed to be beautiful. This is why it’s fun to live in a university community. The energy, the vitality, the variety — there must be something for everyone, right?
A couple of U.Va. folks are featured in a Smithsonian Channel documentary, “Jefferson’s Secret Bible,” that airs tonight at 9.
According to the Smithsonian’s description:
Relatively few people know that along with authoring the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson also compiled his own text, drawn carefully from passages extracted out of the New Testament, that he titled “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.” The book, which focused on the ethical teachings of Jesus, was a private undertaking for Jefferson and never made public in his lifetime. Now, experts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History are meticulously conserving this fragile volume, page by brittle page. Along the way, they discover subtle hidden clues to Jefferson himself.
The documentary features interviews with Michael Suarez, who directs the Rare Book School, which runs out of the U.Va. Library; and with Peter Onuf, ThoMas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History in the College of Arts & Sciences.
library,
Thomas Jefferson,
TV | Tuesday, March 6th | By: Dan @9:00 am |
Photo credit: Reggie Jackson, U.Va. Center for Politics
The Commonwealth of Virginia holds the distinction of producing the most presidents of any state in the Union, narrowly beating out Ohio as the “Mother of Presidents.” The benefits of such a distinction are legion, although students in a January term class that focuses on the Commonwealth’s political history benefited from a lesser-known perk: a plethora of presidential gastronomy.
On their last day of class, students from University of Virginia Center for Politics Associate Director Ken Stroupe’s Virginia Government and Politics course were treated to a lunch featuring some of the favorite foods of Virginia’s eight native-born presidents. Dishes included Virginia ham (a favorite of James Madison), macaroni and cheese (Thomas Jefferson), spoon bread with honey and butter (James Monroe), roasted duck (John Tyler), Creole roasted okra (pictured above, a favorite of Zachary Taylor) peach cobbler (Woodrow Wilson) and wedding cake (George Washington). Continue reading…
News,
politics,
Thomas Jefferson | Wednesday, January 18th | By: brevy @10:44 am |
U.Va. President Teresa A. Sullivan on Sunday issued a statement on the Rotunda roof repair project and the fate of the adjacent magnolia trees. You can read the whole statement here, but the main take-home is that the details about the work schedule and the fate of the trees are still in flux.
Of the trees, which have been the object of Facebook campaigning, she wrote, “The Board members were informed that the magnolias are at the end of their projected lifespan and were planted too close to the building. Arborists — our own as well as outside experts — believe that the repair work on the Rotunda will only exacerbate the trees’ already fragile state,” nevertheless adding, “These are matters that we must consider further.”
Of the possibility that the Rotunda roof work could mar graduation pictures in both 2012 and 2013, she wrote, “Let me reassure you that we are still in the throes of working out the timing of construction work in an effort to minimize disruption to the daily lives of our students, staff, and faculty — and to address concerns that have been raised about Finals Weekends.”
One senior administrator told me after the recent Board of Visitors meeting that she has been advising fourth-year students who are concerned about the appearance of the Rotunda during Finals Weekend to get good pictures now, and Photoshop their capped-and-gowned selves into them next spring.
Retronaut, sort of a visual pop history site, has a cool collection of Apple ads from 1975 through 2002, including this piece of sacrilege (at least in these parts) from 1981:
Seriously, though — is there any question that Jefferson would have loved the computer age? It sure would have made the founding of the University of Virginia a lot easier.
technology,
Thomas Jefferson | Tuesday, October 18th | By: Dan @2:43 pm |
