Events & Videos

4/13/2024
Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society Celebrates Jefferson’s 281st Birthday

The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society (TJHS) was represented at Thomas Jefferson’s 281st birthday wreath laying ceremony on 13 April 2024 at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC. Our wreath was presented by John Hamilton Works Jr, President, Vivienne Kelly, Vice President, and Grace Martin, Board Member.

4/13/2023
Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society Celebrates
Jefferson’s 280th Birthday

The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society (TJHS) was represented at Thomas Jefferson’s 280th birthday wreath laying ceremony on 13 April 2023 at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC. Our wreath was presented by Rebecca Hart, 1st cousin 7 times removed from Thomas Jefferson and sister of TJHS Advisory Board member Pamela Buell, and Rebecca’s husband Michael Hart.  

4/11/2015
The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society presents
Thomas Jefferson: The Man Behind the Myths

In the past few decades, historical scholarship has obscured the true character and thought of Thomas Jefferson. This forum addressed misconceptions and misunderstandings concerning the historical Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was a man of profound dimensionality. He was a statesman, politician, philosopher, architect, meteorologist, farmer, philologist, paleontologist, biologist, and inventor, among other things. Nonetheless, he is generally known to the public today only as the writer of the Declaration of Independence and an owner of slaves. This conference explored beyond this narrow perception of the third president.

The seminar was held on Saturday 11 April 2015, in Charlottesville, Virginia at the University of Virginia's Jefferson Scholars Foundation, located at 112 Clarke Court, Charlottesville, Virginia, from 9 a.m. to 4:40 p.m. Admission to this special event was free and open to the public.

VIEW THE ENTIRE FORUM IN VIDEO

Mark Beliles
"DOUBTING THOMAS? THE DISTORTED RELIGIOUS LEGACY OF THOMAS JEFFERSON"

J. David Gowdy
"THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE PURSUIT OF VIRTUE"

Richard Guy Wilson
"THOMAS JEFFERSON ARCHITECT: MYTH AND REALITY"

M. Andrew Holowchak
"AN 'HONEST HEART' V. A 'KNOWING HEAD': THE MYTH OF THE PREEMINENCE OF RATIONALITY IN JEFFERSON'S CONCEPTIONS OF MAN AND SOCIETY"

Brian Steele
"THOMAS JEFFERSON'S EMBODIED MIND: BODILY DECAY, A MATERIAL GOD, AND HUMAN IMMORTALITY"

James Thompson
"THOMAS JEFFERSON TODAY AND THOMAS JEFFERSON TOMORROW" 

11/9/2013
The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society presents
The Character and Legacy of Thomas Jefferson and its Meaning for Americans Today

The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society hosted a panel of distinguished authors, researchers and nationally acclaimed scholars to address the character and legacy of Thomas Jefferson and the impact of the Sally Hemings controversy in a comprehensive review of the facts from the historic record. This seminar was held on Saturday 9 November 2013 at the University of Virginia, Jefferson Scholars Foundation,112 Clark Court, Charlottesville, Virginia, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Admission to this special event was free and open to the public.

VIEW THE ENTIRE FORUM IN VIDEO

Dr. Donald W. Livingston:
"Jefferson, Republicanism and the Problem of Size and Scale"

Dr. William M. Wilson: 
"Jefferson the Theist"

Dr. Clyde N. Wilson: 
"Looking for Mr. Jefferson"
(Dr. Wilson's presentation will be read by Dr. Carey Roberts)

Cynthia H. Burton: 
"Myths and Scholarship"
(Ms. Burton is interviewed by Patricia Early)

William G. Hyland, Esq.:
"Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson: The Life of Dumas Malone"

Dr. Robert F. Turner: 
"Parsing the Paradox: Understanding Thomas Jefferson and Slavery."

Panel Discussion

4/12/2013
The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society
presents a Birthday Celebration for Thomas Jefferson

The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society presented a ceremony and reception in honor of the 270th birthday of President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was held at the Virginia State Capitol Jefferson room on Friday 12 April 2013 at 1:30 p.m. Both the ceremony and reception was open to the public free of charge. Speakers included John Works, a direct descendent of Thomas Jefferson and the first president of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society, and Dr. Mark McGarvie, a professor of history at the University of Richmond. Review the event program and read about Jefferson's great contribution to the Virginia State Capitol in Jefferson Notes.

10/27/2012
The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society sponsors
Cracking the Fable: The Truth Behind Jefferson and Hemings

The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society hosted a panel of distinguished authors, researchers, and nationally acclaimed scholars to address the Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemings controversy in a comprehensive review of the facts from the historic record. This academic seminar, Cracking the Fable: The Truth Behind Jefferson and Hemings, was held on Saturday 27 October 2012, in Charlottesville, Virginia, on the grounds of the University of Virginia in the Commonwealth Room at Newcomb Hall, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission to this special event was free and open to the public.

VIEW THE ENTIRE FORUM IN VIDEO

John Works:
"The Monticello Association and the Graveyard at Monticello"

Cynthia H. Burton: 
"Did Poor Scholarship Affect the Paternity Debate"

M. Andrew Holowchak: 
"Little Plus Little Equals Much: Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings and the Fallacy of Artful Additions"

William G. Hyland: 
"In Defense of Thomas Jefferson: What Sally Hemings Tells Us about Our Times"

Robert F. Turner: 
"Is The Debate Over?"

4/13/2012
The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society presents
A Birthday Celebration for Thomas Jefferson

The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society presented a ceremony and reception in honor of the 269th birthday of President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) held at the Virginia State Capitol Jefferson room on Friday 13 April 2012 at 2 p.m. Both the ceremony and reception was free and open to the public. 

3/31/2012
Fauquier Heritage Institute presents
"The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission"

WARRENTON, VA - The 2012 edition of the annual Fauquier Heritage Institute Lectures in American History features distinguished local historians and nationally acclaimed scholars to address a variety of topics of regional and national significance.

On Saturday 31 March 2012, with special cooperation by the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society, the Institute will host Dr. Robert F. Turner, Chairman of the Scholars Commission on the Jefferson-Hemings Controversy, which strongly challenges the modern-era view that President Thomas Jefferson fathered one or more children by an enslaved African-American woman named Sally Hemings. The lecture was held at 3 p.m. in the John Barton Payne Building, located at 2 Courthouse Square, on Main Street, in Old Town, Warrenton, Virginia. Admission was free and open to the public. Read more..