The site seems designed to serve a wide range of educational levels, from elementary school students to professional civil war scholars. To see how the project has been used in the classroom, click here. The Valley archive is unmistakably a professional academic project. It is not directly affiliated with a commercial interest. As explained in the Reception , the site is a Univeristy of Virginia research project, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Authorial presence is represented in various ways.
Jefferson is best known as the third President of the United States. Our octagonal floor plan is that of Poplar Forest, the summer home Jefferson designed for himself. The architecture and thus the authority of the archive is tied to Thomas Jefferson, founding father, third President of the United States, architect of the University of Virgina, etc. In this way, the authority of the site is self-conscious. Though there is little if any element of play, the title of the site arguably suggests some deeper metaphysical meanings .