Thomas Jefferson Foundation

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, originally known as the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, is a private, nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation founded in 1923 to purchase and maintain Monticello, the primary plantation of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. The Foundation's initial focus was on architectural preservation, with the goal of restoring Monticello as close to its original appearance as possible. It has since grown to include other historic and cultural pursuits and programs such as its Annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony. It also publishes and provides a center for scholarship on Jefferson and his era.

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation was launched in 1923 as the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. It named Stuart G. Gibboney as its first president on April 28, 1923, shortly after the Foundation's inauguration earlier that month in New York City. The Foundation's constitution had two primary goals:

"To purchase, preserve and maintain Monticello, at Charlottesville, in the State of Virginia, as a national memorial, so that it may be forever retained as a shrine, and reverently transmitted to future generations as a monument to the genius and patriotism of Thomas Jefferson, and a constant reminder of the principles inscribed in the Declaration of Independence. To foster and preserve the ideals of American liberty and the republican form of government; and to keep alive the name and memory of Thomas Jefferson, as the apostle of human freedom.”

Monticello had a contract purchase price of $500,000, the first $100,000 of which the Foundation paid by December 1923 to the property's prior owner, Jefferson Monroe Levy. This initial payment was a landmark for the Foundation, as the transaction allowed it to assume the title to Monticello. The Foundation also sought to raise $500,000 for an endowment fund, which would be used to maintain Monticello and create plans that would "foster the ideals of Jefferson". In moving beyond the planning stages and taking physical possession of Monticello, the Foundation surpassed prior attempts by similar organizations and groups in the preceding half-century that never got beyond preliminary negotiations.The Washington Post noted that the Foundation's successful payment "has set to rest any misgivings that may have existed that the foundation's plan would end without result".

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