Clarifying Errors in Historical Tours

Clarifying Errors in Historical Tours

Updating Accuracy of Historical Information

As new facts come to light, Guides must adapt their historical tours. Brendan Nigro, Historian at the time, distributed this email to current guides as a way to continue discussion around common tour misconceptions.

03/28/2016

Hello Guides,

Yesterday, Shoaibis alerted me of something they learned from KvD in Probie class that represents a fairly glaring mistake in our current historical information. This inspired me to send out an update with some common myths we perpetuate as an organization and what the historical truth is.


Thrimston Hern (s/o Shoaibis for letting me know):

Thrimston Hern was not at the laying of the Cornerstone of the University. Hern was born in 1799 as a second-generation enslaved laborer at Monticello and contracted to work at the University as a skilled stonecutter in its construction phase. He was not, however, trained in stone cutting until several years after the laying of the cornerstone and therefore would not have been present. According to recent findings by the President's Commission on Slavery at the University in conjunction with Monticello, it is likely that there may have been very few enslaved people at the laying of the cornerstone. So, basically what you need to know is that it would be inappropriate to attribute the laying of the cornerstone to Thrmimston Hern based on recent findings.

This should not minimize in anyone's minds the impact that enslaved laborers had on the construction of the University. Even in 1817 at the time of the the cornerstone laying, there were already dozens of enslaved laborers present terracing the Lawn and doing basic construction tasks.


Serpentine Walls:

For a long time, we have told people the reason for the serpentine walls was because of the economizing of bricks, as they can be made one brick thick. This is based on the English tradition of Serpentine Walls (or crinkle crankle walls as they call it... lol) which began in the mid-1600's. While Jefferson may very well have been knowing and appreciative of the economical benefit of serpentine walls, recent findings suggest the primary motivation for the serpentine walls was to contain sound in the Gardens. From an acoustic standpoint, the serpentine nature of the walls kept sounds of the enslaved laborers working in the Gardens in, and kept the sounds of passing students in the alleys out of the Gardens. This is just another example of Jefferson very intentionally hiding the presence of enslaved laborers at the University and separating the white and enslaved communities. This can make for another great tidbit in a Garden slavery stop.


Night of a Thousand Toasts / A Revolutionary Reunion:



There are so many lies that some of us tell in this story that I feel obligated to dispel this myth again:



-This event was an afternoon reception from around 3-6pm and was not an all-night party.

-They did not run out of red wine.

-The Marquis de Lafayette did not toast Thomas Jefferson as "the father of the University of Virginia," (as Jefferson's epitaph reads), nor did he toast him as "founder" and in a translation error, accidentally refer to him as "father." There is no record of the words "founder" or "father" in Lafayette's speech.







Do not tell lies on historical tours. Lying is bad. If you ever have questions about the historical validity of anything you say on your tours, please do not hesitate to email me. The historical scholarship on all of this stuff (especially slavery at the University) is constantly evolving.

Historically Yours,

Historical Accuracy Updates

Brendan Nigro