ACQUIRED NOTE SAYS "HOLD THE JUNK MAIL"
Poplar Forest Newsletter, Fall 2001

A newly acquired short note sheds light on the daily life of Jefferson.

"This note is important because it speaks directly to Jefferson 's life at Poplar Forest, to his escaping here for the quiet to study and read," Lynn A. Beebe, executive director, says. "The note is also relevant to people today.  That's its charm.  In today's parlance, Jefferson is saying, ‘Hold the junk mail and send the good stuff.’ It is fascinating to see Jefferson's priorities."

In the November 1820 note, Jefferson writes from Poplar Forest to his Monticello neighbor and Charlottesville merchant, Charles Vest, that he would like some of his mail forwarded to him.  He asks that a Mr. Winn send “weekly by the Lynchburg mail all letters, the Enquirers, and Niles Registers directed to him, and to retain all other newspapers, pamphlets, books or other packets of size.”

Jefferson needed to make special arrangements because while most cities and towns had post offices by then, the federal service wouldn't forward items.

The two newspapers that Jefferson wanted to keep up with were both influential in their day.  The Richmond Enquirer was edited by Thomas Ritchie, a friend of the Jefferson's, and was a strong party voice.  Hezekiah Niles in Baltimore was a Jeffersonian Republican until about 1817.  Jefferson called the newspaper a “valuable repository of facts and documents.” Some historians believe it to be the most widely circulated publication of its time.

The note acquired by the Corporation at auction apparently is a copy made on Jefferson's traveling polygraph, the twin-penned device that Jefferson kept at Poplar Forest that enabled him to make copies as he wrote.

On the back of the note are the remnants of the address to Jefferson, Esquire, President of the United States.  The paper appears to have been a cover sheet originally, used in Jefferson's day in lieu of envelopes.

People instead wrapped a sheet of paper around the correspondence, inking the address on the cover sheet.

In turn, Jefferson reused these cover sheets for the copy of whatever he was writing on the polygraph.