Interpreting a Primary Source Document - Teacher Notes

Thomas Jefferson's Letter, dated October 10, 1812, to Jeremiah Goodman, overseer at Poplar Forest from 1811 to 1815 ^*

Interpretation of Documents

What was life like at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest? Historians use primary sources to answer questions about the past. Primary sources are original documents or artifacts that tell us about the past: types of primary resources include personal papers, diaries and letters, business records, maps, photographs, drawings, broadsides (advertisements and posters), manuscripts, census records, and objects of the time period. Primary source documents are created by individuals during or immediately following an event. The individual may have witnessed the event and recorded the event or their reaction to the event. Secondary sources are those created by individuals not present at the event or distanced by time from the event. Secondary sources often make use of primary sources.

Letters written by Jefferson, his family, and the enslaved workers survive today. The information in these primary source documents helps build the history of Poplar Forest and the activities that took place here. See what your students can learn about life at Poplar Forest and about Jefferson from this letter written by Jefferson to his overseer, Mr. Goodman.

Overseers such as Jeremiah Goodman managed Jefferson’s plantation, supervised the enslaved workers, and reported to Jefferson on a regular basis. Jefferson was very involved in the management of his plantations and wrote detailed instructions to the overseers, to the carpenters and the brick masons.

• To view annotated version of the letter
• For more on Plantation Life at Poplar Forest
• For more on Thomas Jefferson and Poplar Forest

* The original letter is in the Historic Collection of the Corporation for Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest.  It may be used by teachers for educational purposes in the Lesson Plan, but may not be reproduced otherwise without permission of the Corporation.