Founding Fathers’ papers go online

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- More than 200 years after they were written, about 5,000 previously unpublished documents of the founders of the United States -- including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison -- are now available to the public at no cost.

The Documents Compass group of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at the University of Virginia has spent much of the past year proofreading and transcribing thousands of pages of letters and other papers.

The documents are available online for free at the University of Virginia Press' digital imprint called Rotunda.

"It's an exciting project," said Penelope Kaiserlian, director of the University of Virginia Press. "It's using 21st-century technology to approach 18th-century materials."

The online project is a federal pilot study that aims to expand public access to the papers of America's founders. It is funded by a $250,000 grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, a division of the National Archives.

For decades, the papers of Jefferson, Adams, George Washington and others have been available only in expensive, hard-copy tomes that are not widely circulated. A complete set of the 26 volumes of Alexander Hamilton's papers, for example, costs about $2,600.

The papers now available online are early-access documents that have not been edited and do not include footnotes or any of the other scholarly information found in the printed collections of papers.

The early-access papers will remain online until they are published in a printed collection.

If the pilot project is successful and future funding can be secured, Kaiserlian said, more previously unpublished documents may be made available online.

The U.Va. Press is the longtime publisher of the Papers of George Washington, which has 55 volumes to date, and the Papers of James Madison, which has 32 volumes so far.

Rotunda, U.Va. Press' digital imprint, has published digital versions of the published volumes of the papers of Washington, Adams and Jefferson. Rotunda's staff is working on a digital version of the papers of Madison.

The searchable database of letters and other papers that are now available contains several gems.

"It's kind of hidden in there, but there's some great materials," said Sue Perdue, director of Documents Compass.

Several letters exchanged by Jefferson and Adams show the difficulties they faced when establishing trade between the newly formed United States and Europe.

Many of Jefferson's later letters offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse about his efforts to set up the University of Virginia. These include his attempts to deal with his debt, recruit professors and purchase the university's land in Charlottesville.

Brian McNeill is a staff writer for The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.