Sunday, February 5, 2023

February 2023

 

Saving Monticello: The Newsletter

The latest about the book, author events, and more

Newsletter Editor - Marc Leepson

 

Volume XX, Number 2                                                          February 2023

The study of the past is a constantly evolving, never-ending journey of discovery.” – Eric Foner

 


ANATOMY OF A PHOTOGRAPH: In early 1917, the bitterly contentious effort to take Monticello from Jefferson Levy and turn it into a government-run presidential house museum was entering its fifth year. The first congressional hearings on the idea had taken place in the summer of 1912, a fiery spectacle as Maud Littleton, a Long Island, New York, socialite, and her allies battled it out with Jefferson Monroe Levy over his ownership of Thomas Jefferson’s Essay in Architecture. 

For more than two years, Jefferson Levy had vowed he would not let Monticello go. Why should he? It had been in his family since his uncle Uriah Phillips Levy purchased it in 1834; he and his uncle saved it from ruin twice; and he had not the slightest inclination to sell. 

“When the White House is for sale, then I will consider an offer for the sale of Monticello, and not before,” he said soon after Mrs. Littleton (as she was known in the press) began her single-minded campaign to wrest Monticello from “outsiders,” as her literature put it.

Then, in the fall of 1914, Jefferson Levy, a well-heeled real estate and stock speculator, made a shocking announcement: After a plea from President Woodrow Wilson, Levy said he would sell Monticello—for $500,000. That number, he said, was about a third of what he had spent in the previous 35 years repairing, restoring, running, and persevering the house and grounds—as well as adding significant acreage to the property and lavishly furnishing every room in the mansion. 


As I wrote in Saving Monticello, on January 9, 1917—while Europe was stalemated in the third bloody year of what would become known as World War I—yet another congressional hearing convened to debate Monticello’s fate. This time the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds met to discuss a resolution that called for the government to purchase Monticello for Levy’s asking price and use it as a Virginia getaway for U.S. presidents, what Camp David in Maryland is today.   

In the weeks following that hearing there still seemed to be fairly widespread sentiment in Congress for the government purchase of Monticello. In an effort to keep the momentum for a sale alive, Daisy Allen Story the Present General of the Daughters of the American Revolution—which had volunteered to run the house museum—arranged for a large group of congressmen to make a personal inspection of Monticello. 

On Sunday morning, January 28, 1917, a party of 40 men and 27 women—including many members of the House Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds and their wives—boarded two chartered Southern Railway cars for the trip to Charlottesville. The train arrived shortly after noon. 

The party—which also included Daisy Story (in photo, below) and members of the DAR’s national Board of Directors—was met at the train station by a delegation from the local Chamber of Commerce and whisked up to snow-covered Monticello in two dozen automobiles. The lead vehicle was decorated with two huge American flags donated by the DAR. 

The group gathered on Monticello’s East Lawn to take in the mountain views and then proceeded to the East Front steps where Jefferson M. Levy greeted them. The guests took a guided tour of all of Monticello’s rooms before sitting down to a lavish lunch in the dining room. Levy brought in a phalanx of Black waiters and maids for the occasion. 

“The spread set out by the genial host of today was in keeping with the traditional hospitality of the famous mansion,” the Charlottesville Daily Progress reported. “An elegant menu was served the many guests, whose appetites had been whetted by the three-mile drive in the bracing mountain air, and they did full justice to the elegant and toothsome viands which had been provided.” Several newspaper and newsreel photographers were on hand, although the images they took have not survived.   

Until now, that is. Bill Bergen, a former long-time Monticello guide and one of the most knowledgeable Monticello historians I know, has unearthed a striking photo that almost certainly portrays the group posing on the East Front steps. Bill filled me in on the detective work he performed to identify the photo. 


More than a few years ago, Bill said, he had scanned the image, which he found in the Thomas Jefferson Foundation photo files in the Jefferson Library.” The image was simply labeled “unidentified group.” 

Then, a couple of weeks ago, Bill immediately thought of that undated and unidentified group photo after reading a Facebook post by the Richmond (Va.) journalist Coy Barefoot. In it, he posted several articles from the January 29, 1959, Charlottesville Daily Progress, one of which looked back on that date in local history an item for the newspaper’s January 29, 1917 edition.

To wit: “A delegation of about 70 from the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds of the House of Representatives inspected Monticello yesterday in connection with the proposed purchase of Jefferson's home by the national government.” 

“I had forgotten about the visit,” Bill told me, “and it occurred to me the mystery photograph might depict that occasion.” His first step was to go to Saving Monticello where he found the passage that I paraphrased above with the details of the January 29, 1917, congressional visit. Next, Bill unearthed a list of the committee’s 1917 members, as well as images of nearly all 21 of them. “By comparing those online images with the men in the attached picture,” he said, “I identified 12 people whose visages seem to match.” 

More evidence pointing to this being the 1917 images, Bill said, was the fact that everyone in it is wearing winter clothing, as well as “the presence of women [presumably spouses and DAR members], two individuals in uniform (the U.S. had not yet declared war, but National Guard units were expanding at that time), and the general fashions depicted, which suggest a date somewhere close to the U.S. entry into World War I.” 

What’s more, he said, other images of the Entrance Hall taken early in early 1917 show the windows adorned with curtains, as the photograph in question does. And photographs depicting the same Entrance Hall in the early 1920s after the Thomas Jefferson Foundation purchased Monticello from Jefferson Levy “show the same windows without curtains,” which “supports the idea that the congressional delegation photo was not taken during the Foundation’s ownership.” 

As for the nine men aside from the committee members in the images, they most likely were “hangers-on, aides, or, quite likely, other politicians, including members of the Virginia congressional delegation. Fewer than the 70 or so people mentioned [in the newspaper article] are in the photograph, so not everyone who made the trip posed for the photographer.” 

After a closer look, Bill and I believe we recognized one of the non-committee members in the photo. The bald-headed man with the bushy white moustache wear the fur-collared jacket in the third row from the bottom just to the right of the man with the full beard very likely is Judge R.T.W. “Tom” Duke Jr., Jefferson Levy’s Charlottesville lawyer (in right photo). Alas, Jefferson Levy—not exactly a camera-shy man—does not appear in the photo. 

I am thankful to my friend Bill Bergen for some great historical sleuthing and for sharing it with me. When he suggested that I might want to report on it in the newsletter, I replied, “Let me think about it for a minute—Yes!” 

*********************** 

By the way, that congressional visit was not exactly a success. The problem—of all things—was Jefferson Levy’s refusal to serve wine with lunch. When the thirsty congressmen and company asked Levy to show them Jefferson’s wine cellar, he responded, according to a Roanoke Times article I dug up, that “he had left the keys in New York.” 

“‘Well, that’s all right,’ said some of the leading committee members. ‘We’ll just break in the door and make a hole in the floor.’ 

“But Levy said, ‘No’ and would not budge from the decision.” 

That brought about “much grumbling” from the distinguished guests, the newspaper said, “and it was freely rumored that Mr. Levy would have to materially reduce his offer [to sell Monticello to the government] below $500,000 if he expected Congress to buy the old Jefferson home.” 

Whether or not that last line was sarcastic, and whether the lack of wine accompanying that meal had any impact on the congressmen, the fact remains that the 64th Congress adjourned on March 3, 1917, without taking any action on any of the Monticello resolutions. 

And when the U.S entered the Great War the next month the matter was dropped. 

THE DAVID STATUE: As we noted in the October and November 2021 issues of the newsletter, the New York City Council decided two years ago that it no longer wanted the larger-than-life statue of Thomas Jefferson that had been in its chambers since it was donated to the city by Uriah Levy in 1834. The statue—to be more precise, the plaster model of said statue commissioned by Levy from the great French sculptor David d’Angers, the original of which is in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda—was then moved to the lobby of the New-York Historical Society building on Central Park West at 77th Street. 


My friend and colleague Steve Pressman, the writer and director of “The Levys of Monticello,” paid a visit to the museum last month, and kindly sent me the photo (right) and the following on-the-spot report: 

I was in New York City to see some art exhibitions and dropped by the New-York Historical Society to take in a fun exhibit about Jewish delis—alas, a vanishing breed both in NYC and the rest of the country. 

Before entering the world of pastrami-on-rye and bagel schmears, I was delighted to come across an instantly recognizable figure right inside the main entrance to the building—a seven-foot statue of Thomas Jefferson, quill pen in hand, gazing earnestly at the passersby. 

On the day of my visit to the Historical Society, most of the other visitors brushed right by the Jefferson statue, apparently far more eager to pay their respects to the memories of the Carnegie and Stage Delis, both of which, sadly, are no longer with us. 

But I chose instead to linger, at least for a few moments, out of respect for both Thomas Jefferson and Uriah Phillips Levy. Both men, to be sure, owned enslaved people—and I’m mindful of their moral contradictions that we continue to grapple with centuries later. Still, I was happy to see the d’Angers statue at its new home in New York City—with or without half-sour pickles. 

THE DOC: Steve’s great documentary, “The Levys of Monticello,” continues to appear at film festivals across the country. On Wednesday, February 8, at 7:00 p.m. it will be screened at the Charlotte (North Carolina) Jewish Film festival at that city’s Temple Israel. For more info, go to https://bit.ly/CharlotteLevys 

On Wednesday, February 15, the film will be shown as part of the 33rd Annual Orange County International Jewish Film Festival in Southern California. Info at: https://bit.ly/OrangeCoFestival 

And on Sunday, February 26, I’ll be taking part in a post-screening Q&A at the Samuel C. Johnson Theater at Norfolk Academy in Norfolk, Virginia, as part of the Virginia Festival of Jewish Film. The event begins at 2:30 p.m. More info: https://bit.ly/NorfolkFestival 

FEBRUARY EVENTS: In addition to the event in Norfolk, I’ll be doing a talk on the life of Francis Scott Key, based on my biography What So Proudly We Hailed, on Monday, February 5, via Zoom for the Peter Minuet DAR chapter of New York City.

On Monday, February 20, at 2:00 p.m. I’ll be talking about Saving Monticello via Zoom for the Bender JCC of Greater Washington (D.C.). Steve Pressman will be joining me as we also discuss the making of “The Levys of Monticello.”

If you’d like to arrange an event for Saving Monticello or for any of my other books, email me at marcleepson@gmail.com  For details on other upcoming events, check the Events page on my website: https://bit.ly/NewAppearances


GIFT IDEASFor a personally autographed, brand-new paperback copy of Saving Monticello, please e-mail marcleepson@gmail.com  I also have a few as-new, unopened hardcover copies, along with a good selection of new copies of my other books: Flag: An American Biography; Desperate Engagement; What So Proudly We Hailed; Flag: An American Biography; and Ballad of the Green Beret: The Life and Wars of Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler.

The SM Newsletter on Line: You can read back issues of this newsletter at http://bit.ly/SMOnline