Just in the last months, our firm has discovered several previously unknown or unlocated documents signed by Thomas Jefferson. Situations like this happen every year with historical figures across the spectrum, and our goal once we have established this is to both find them new homes and add to the historical record. These letters and documents can come directly from descendants or from the heirs of large collections assembled decades or even a century ago.
Nowhere is this better illustrated than with Thomas Jefferson, which have seen important discoveries from private collections and the property of direct descendants of historical figures. These include:
– Thomas Jefferson's signed order for books for the early Library of Congress, the body in the hand of Meriwether Lewis;
– Secretary of State Jefferson's notification to a Governor of the passage of America's first patent law;
– President Jefferson's announcement to his Poplar Forest Estate manager that he is ready to pass down property to his grandchildren;
– Jefferson's letter of recommendation to Gen. Henry Dearborn for his Harvard-bound relative.
