Happy Birthday Thomas Jefferson!

Thomas Jefferson is remembered by many living both in and outside of the United States for a variety of for different actions and accomplishments. From enacting Louisiana Purchase, to publishing the Notes on the State of Virginia, to founding the University of Virginia, and writing the Jefferson Bible, his life and actions have captured the interest of people of all walks of life. He was a man who expressed an interest in everything and wanted to educate himself and teach others about all subjects he deemed important. He mastered the trades of surveying, architecture, mathematics, mechanics, and horticulture while practicing philosophy and, most famously, theology. He worked in law for most of his life and in 1775 truly began his political career by writing the Declaration of Independence.

In Lehigh’s Special Collections, there are an 1800 edition of Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia and an 1806 edition of Discoveries Made by Captains Lewis & Clark by Jefferson. Along with these, there are handwritten letters to and from Jefferson in the I Remain digital archive, pictured below.