Note: p105m2 Although after Jefferson took up his residence in Europe he continued to employ ink for certain drawings, he henceforth preferred to work in pencil. This was probably due in part to the discovery that professional architects like Clérisseau used it, and in part to his own adoption of coordinate paper which enabled him to employ a freer medium in spite of his deficiencies of technique. The pencil was hard and finely pointed. Jefferson now used ink principally in rough sketches made when the pen happened to be the instrument in hand, or in the large detail drawings for which the sheets of coordinate paper were inadequate. An occasional retention of ink resulted also from his acquirement of a copying press, for ink permitted duplication as pencil did not. The ink usually employed was much like that of the earlier period often somewhat darker, but not enough so to serve as a sure differentia. Indic ink appears very rarely, for instance in Number 150. Two further instances of attempts at rendering by Jefferson himself are the competition drawing for the President's House, Numbers 127-29, and the plan for the dependencies of the building, Number 175. Certain drawings were shaded and tinted by his granddaughter, Cornelia J. Randolph.
The polygraph, acquired in 1804, by which Jefferson was able to make simultaneously two copies of his letters, was apparently never used for drawings, so that it furnishes no assistance in dating them. Only a single perspective drawing by Jefferson is preserved, Note: p106f1 and it seems probable that he made few if any others. He evidently hoped that mechanical means might aid him here also, for there exists a letter to him from a certain William Jones London, dated 1786, relative to an order to make him a perspective machine. Note: p106f2
Note: p106m2 To show the limits within which the evidence of the paper may be employed and the degree to which its results may be accurate requires a brief discussion of the various distinguishing properties of papers and of the methods employed in their study. These methods are best set forth by C. M. Briquet his classic dictionary of watermarks, Note: p106f3 to the introduction to which the reader is referred for a fuller treatment.
Note: p107m1 The exterior properties of paper concern its quality and its form. The matters of quality including thickness, purity, translucence, tint, and so on may occasionally assist in identification, although they are all hard to measure fruitfully, as they vary in the same paper at different times. A scientific study must be based primarily upon properties of form, which include (1) the format, or size, (2) the wire-marks, closely spaced, (3) the bridge-marks, appearing in laid paper across the wire-marks, (4) the watermarks, so-called, or distinguishing devices.
Note: p107m2 (1) Standard formats have been fixed by custom, and in some cases by law, the first general law fixing the sizes in France being from 1741. Note: p107f1 As the format varies as much as an inch with the same manufacturing form at different times, however, it is secondary to other properties in the determination of dates.
Note: p107m3 (2) The wire-marks occur in laid paper in one direction only, the space occupied by ten varying in different kinds of paper from three-tenths of an inch to an inch and a half, but remaining in any given kind practically constant. In woven paper, introduced about 1750, Note: p107f2 a woven mesh produces wire-marks in more than one direction.
Note: p107m4 (3) The bridge-marks occur, in laid paper only, at intervals of about an inch, varying in different papers, and somewhat even in the same paper, so that a coincidence extending over several marks is necessary, as well as sufficient, to establish identity between two examples.
Note: p107m5 (4) The watermark is produced ordinarily by wires forming letters or a design in outline, indicating the maker, the size, and possibly the date. On a full sheet there are generally two watermarks, one in the center of each half, sometimes with a subsidiary mark in the center. The one at the right generally shows the size, perhaps together with other information. The principal symbols for sizes in use in English-speaking countries about 1800 were as follows:
No striking changes in the size-marks during the time in which we are interested assist us in the determination of the dates. The names or symbols of makers might assist in the determination of dates if the history of their establishments were accessible. The great house of J. Whatman, producing fine drawing papers, was established in 1760, Note: p107f3 just too early to furnish desired evidence in our study. Most useful are naturally the dates which often appear as watermarks, and which at this period may be taken uniformly as giving the date of manufacture. Note: p108f1 To this, of course, the date of use must be posterior. Briquet found that, of sheets dated from 1546-1600 watermarked with the date, fifty per cent was used in three years and two months, ninety-two per cent in nine years, and the last sheet in twenty-three years, Note: p108f2 and figures of this sort at other periods do not vary much from these.
Note: p108m1 All these internal indications of the date of manufacture of the paper are supplemented by the known dates of use of other examples of a given paper which it is desired to date, recognized by identical properties. A pair of forms for the manufacture of paper has a life of only about two years, Note: p108f3 and the device can never be duplicated quite exactly. It follows that sheets with watermarks absolutely identical must be nearly contemporary in manufacture and their use must likewise range over a restricted period. Briquet found this period to remain practically constant for the thirteenth to the sixteenth century: fifty-four per cent of the sheets was used in five years, eighty per cent in ten, ninety per cent in fifteen. For the large formats, above 20 x 14 inches, ninety per cent was used in thirty years. The extreme cases of both run from fifty to eighty-five years. A tabulation of the known dates of use different watermarks, such as Briquet's work for the period prior to 1700, enables one to determine the date of an undated document within certain limits. In the case of a notebook bound in advance, or a coherent group of documents on different kinds of paper, the date must fall in the time during which the periods of use overlap, and it becomes more accurately determinable in proportion to the number of watermarks involved.
Note: p108m2 In the case of Jefferson's papers, as in those of any individual, these general observations and conclusions may be given greater precision. If, as in his case, a great mass of dated documents is available, the material for dating the others can be drawn almost entirely from this alone, with relatively little margin of error. This is the more fortunate since for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there is no such collection of data as that furnished by Briquet for the earlier period. A special collection has had first to be made, showing the form of the papers which Jefferson is known to have used and the time over which their use extended. In spite of the preservation of Jefferson's correspondence it is not easy to make this collection complete, for the papers preserved in the principal collections are mostly press or polygraph copies, for which special papers were employed, or, later, the envelopes of letters received. The Jefferson Papers of the Massachusetts Historical Society, however, including a considerable number of accounts, memoranda, etc., in which the papers in current use were employed, have assisted in the securing of one or more dated examples of most of the papers in the Coolidge collection of drawings, and often many dated examples. That this material should suffice for a close dating of most of the undated drawings is partly due to special circumstances regarding Jefferson's use of his papers. They were almost exclusively imported, and his correspondence was so great that supplies were soon exhausted. Except for papers reserved for special uses, and for scraps used up in his later years of financial reverses, the period of employment is rarely over three years. Of the twenty-three kinds of paper of which a considerable number of dated specimens are available, seven appear only in a single year, five range within a period of two years, five in a period of three years, and only six in any longer period. The length of the period of use increases with the large formats, three of these ranging over a period of five years. The extreme instances are of twelve and fourteen years respectively. The coördinate papers, treasured with special care, remained in use over much longer periods. Jefferson's later days, after about 1817, form a time apart, for lack of means to meet the increasing calls on him led to the employment of scraps from whatever source. Thus we have in paper BM a sheet used in 1817, after an interval of nineteen years, and in paper CO one used after an interval of at least forty-seven years. A similar use of scraps occurred in 1809, after the loss of a trunk containing stationery. Note: p109f1 At these times, and at these times only, the evidence of the paper is not dependable.
The period elapsing between the manufacture of papers and their use by Jefferson is also of importance in the dating of undated drawings. Of the sheets with a watermark date and also a known date of use, eighty per cent were used in from four to six years from the time of manufacture, fourteen per cent in one or two years, and only seven per cent in more than six years.
We are thus ordinarily safe, in Jefferson's case, in assuming a date for the use of a given kind of paper within three years of the known dates of use, or from four to six years after the date of manufacture.
Note: p109m1 The following list of the kinds of paper employed in the drawings and documents of the Coolidge collection, includes only those which can be recognized with certainty, i.e. those which bear a watermark or a sufficient fragment of one, or are otherwise sufficiently recognizable through unusual color, thickness, or texture. For each kind of paper there is given first a brief description, including the watermark or watermarks, and then a list of the documents, dated and undated, in which the paper is known to be employed. These lists are exhaustive for the Coolidge architectural collection, and include other documents which furnish additional dates. Where the relative position of the watermarks of the sheet is definitely known it is indicated by the words left and right , where it is not known they are merely given the numbers (I) and (II). The order in which the kinds of paper are described is that in which they first appear in the drawings as numbered in this book. Note: p109f2
Number 1 1769?
Numbers: 2, 17 69?; II, prior to the fall of 1770.
Letter of Jefferson to Peyton Randolph, dated July 23, 1770 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers: 4, probably from 1769; 8, probably from 1769, certainly before February, 1770; 25, 26, probably as early as 1771; 3 5; 3 6; 72-7 9, 84-88, etc. (cf. general note to Nos. 68-92), probably from 1770.
Numbers: 5, probably from 1769, certainly before February, 1770; 16 ( = 30), September, 1770.
Numbers: 6, 9, probably from 1769, certainly before February, 1770.
Numbers: 7, probably from 176 9, certainly before February, 1770; 33, prior to August 4, 1772; 38, 39.
Numbers: 10, probably from 1769, certainly before February, 1770; 12 (= 34), prior to the fall of 1770; 13; 52, 55, 1775 or later.
Numbers: 15; 27 (= 28), probably in 1770 and early in 1771; 50, 51, 53, 54, 1775 or later.
Number 17, endorsed "Sep. 1770."
Number 18, probably from 1770.
Number 19 (= 43), probably from 1770.
Numbers: 20 (= 21), probably from 1770; 22, probably early in 1771; 23, 24, probably prior to March, 1771; 44 (= 45), 1775 or later.
Numbers: 31, 32, prior to August 4, 1772; 40 (= 41), 1775?; 42, 1775; 46, 47, 1775 or later.
Letter of Jefferson to James Ogilvie, dated February 20, 1770 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers: 39a; 68-71; 89-92, etc. (cf. general note to Nos. 68-92), probably prior to March, 1771; 84a, 1771?
Number 49, 1775?
Numbers 56 (= 57); 64, probably from 1778; 65; 66; 67; 94d; 94e.
Numbers: 58, about 1778; 96, 97, probably from 1779.
Numbers: 59, about 1778; 60, probably from 1778; 94f, 1776 - 78; 23 Ii.
Numbers: 62, 63, probably from 1778; 23 1 h.
The Treasury in account with Th. Jefferson, dated Mar. 17, 1776: letter of Jefferson to ______, officer in the army, dated April 18, 1777 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers: 80-83, etc. (Cf. general note to Nos. 68-92); 94b, dated Nov. 1778; 94c.
Number 94g, 1778?
Numbers: 100, 101, probably from 1779.
Numbers: 102, 1782 - 85; 105, about 1783.
Letter of Jefferson to Simon Nathan, dated May 18, 1783 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers : 103, 1782-85; 104, about 1783.
Number 106, probably from 1783.
Numbers: 107, probably about 1783-84; 108 bis.
Number 108, probably about 1783-84.
Numbers: 110-112, 1785; 118, 1785?; 121-124, 1790; 207, about 1817; 208, about 1820; 217-221, 1789 - 94?; 222, 224, 1789 - 90 ? ; 225 - 226, 1789 - 94 ? ; 228 - 231, 1789 - 94 ?
Numbers: 114 - 116, 1785; 138.
Numbers: 125 - 126, 1792; 150 - 153, 1796?; 169t - 169u, 1793?; 169v - 169aa; 170, before 1798; 172; 175 - 176, probably from 1804; 183 - 184, 1802 or earlier; 185 - 188, 191, before 1806 and probably before 1804; 192, about 1804?; 193, before 1804; 196, about 1805; 197b-197C, about 1810 - 14; 201 - 202, 1809?; 203, 1815; 206, 1817; 209 - 210, about 1820; 211, 1817; 214 - 215, 1821; 231c; 231g.
Number 131, 1792.
Notes on title to land surveyed Mar. 27, 1788 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers: 132; 148a, before 1789?; 167a, dated Oct. 15 , 1800; 167c, probably from 1793.
Numbers 132a; 149h, 1803?; 167e; 167f.
Deed, dated April, 1794. Insurance policy, dated 1796 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers: 133; 139, 140; 157; 231j 231l.
Number 141.
Numbers : 142 - 149, 1794?
Many letters in the Jefferson Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, extending from December 31, 1783, to February, 1796. Numbers: 149b, dated November, 1796; 149c.
Numbers: 149e; 149f, dated January 12, 1803; 160d; 160p; 167g, dated October 15, 1800.
Draft of Kosciuszko's paper giving Jefferson power of attorney. Dated 1798 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers: 149g; 169s, dated May 1, 1817.
Letter of Jefferson to W. A. Burwell, Dec. 11, 1804, and letters in 1805 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Number 149i.
Thomas Mann Randolph to Jefferson, dated Belmont, February 3, 1798 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Number: 149j, dated June 4, 1804.
Letter of Jefferson to George Jefferson, dated April 6, 1805 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Number 149k, dated Sep. 24, 1804.
Many examples of this paper occur in the correspondence of 1805 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Number 149o.
Numbers: 149p, dated Mar. 24, 1805; 149q; 149s; 169o.
Numbers: 149t, dated Sep. 3, 1805; 154a; 159; 160; 160a-160c.
Letter of August 3, 1810 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.).
Number 149u, dated Sep. 29, 1805.
Occurs in Jefferson's correspondence beginning May 10, 1803 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers: 149aa; 160l; 160n; 160q; 167h; 173; 197a
Number 149ll.
Number 154, 1796-99 ?
Numbers: 160e, 1803?; 167.
Numbers: 160f, 1803?; 160g - 160k; 166; 167j, dated July 31, 1806; 167k - 167n; 168, dated 1806; 174; 197; 231f.
Number 160m, 1803-05?
Cf. notes to Numbers 161 - 162, about 1804?
Cf. notes to Numbers 161 - 162, about 1804?
"Statement of my bonds to Henderson McCaul & Co.," dated November 23, 1808. Letter of February 10, 1810 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.).
Numbers: 165, 1807; 168a, dated July 4, 1809; 199.
Number 167b, dated Oct. 15, 1793.
Number 168b, dated May-June, 1809.
Letters dated Dec. 15, 1809, Jan. 17, 1810 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers: 168c - 168k, dated 1808 - July, 1809; 168l, 1809; 168m, 1808 - 09; 169, 1809; 177 (= 178).
Numbers: 169a, dated 1808; 169b, 169c, 1808.
Numbers: 169h - 169k.
Number 169 n.
Number 168p, 1805 - 09.
Letters of December 28, 1809, and January 3, 1810 Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers: 169q; 169r.
This paper was used in the letters throughout 1800 and until April, 1801. It was used intermittently during 1802 and 1803 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.). Numbers: 171; 182; 231b.
Number 180a, about 1806?
Numbers: 197d; 197e.
Survey dated June 19, 1771 (Jefferson Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc.).
Number 215a, after 1818.
Number 216, 1789-94?
Number 227.
Number 231a.
Number 231e.
Number 231o.
Number 231p.
Numbers : 231q; 231r, dated Nov. 19, 1831,