Date: 3/10/2016
Time: 7:00 PM TO 8:00 PM

2807 N. Glebe Road
Reinsch Library Auditorium
Arlngton, VA 22207

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Event Description: The Arlington Historical Society (AHS) will host Dr. Billy Wayson, who will speak about his book, “Martha Jefferson Randolph: Republican Daughter and Plantation Mistress” at its next public program on Thursday, March 10. For almost his entire life, Thomas Jefferson served in positions of leadership at the local, state, and federal levels. His gifted pen was known in Europe, even before the Declaration of Independence, but it was Jefferson’s private writing that revealed the most intimate emotional dynamics of a life in government service. Nowhere are the personal challenges associated with public service more poignantly expressed than in Jefferson’s letters to daughter Martha (“Patsy”). Wayson’s book draws on some 900 family letters and uses qualitative analysis software to trace the evolution of this intense daughter-father relationship alongside rapidly unfolding political, economic, and social events. Billy Wayson holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, studied Economics at George Washington University, and at the University of Iowa earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (magna cum laude) and election to Phi Beta Kappa. His research interests are cultural, social, economic, and political history from mid-eighteenth century to the late antebellum period with specific curiosity for the subjects of family, gender, household, and community. Dr. Wayson is deeply engaged in a long-term project to examine Thomas Jefferson’s financial affairs in the context of political, social, and cultural forces affecting economic activities and agricultural technology at the turn of the nineteenth century. The Founder’s accounts are being transcribed into an electronic accounting format for ease of analysis and for correlation with over 1,500 letters collected on the topic of finances. The first paper in this project, “‘Solid, Substantial and Patriotic’: That Business of William Short and Thomas Jefferson,” was first presented 2011.


Directions:
The hour-long program will begin at 7:00pm at Marymount University (2807 N. Glebe Rd, Arlington, VA 22207). The talk will be held in the Reinsch Library auditorium. The program is free and open to the public. For additional AHS information, please contact 703-942-9247.

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