During the past year the executive committee has been working on finding a permanent home for the accumulated papers and artifacts of the Association that in the past have been in the possession of the Historian of the Association. The overriding objectives for this effort were to find a home for the archives that would be safe, secure, accessible, and provide the appropriate conditions for proper archival storage. The Executive Committee has been in discussions with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation over the last few years to determine if storing the Association’s papers at the Jefferson Library would be a potential option.
The discussions culminated this year in a temporary agreement now being finalized with the Jefferson Library that would allow for the storage of the Monticello Association papers at the Jefferson Library with access limited to the Association Executive Committee members and the Association Historian.
It is the Executive Committee’s view that before any external access is to be considered that first the contents of the archives needs to be thoroughly reviewed, categorized, and documented by the Association to determine that exact nature of the contents and, to the extent possible, understand the expressed wishes and desires of the members who contributed the artifacts throughout our history.
To this end Jack Taylor, Immediate Past President, has graciously volunteered to spend a month “on the mountain” this fall to review and document the accumulated archives of the Association and report out his findings in time for the 2012 meeting. Many thanks to Jack for his tireless efforts to not only find a home for our papers but also commiting time to completely document, for the first, the accumulated Associaton papers. We all look forward with great anticipation to what he uncovers.