The Levy family and Monticello, 1834-1923
Subtitle: saving Thomas Jefferson's house
By: by Melvin I. Urofsky.
Series: Monticello monograph series
Publisher: Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Published: 2001
Place of publication: [Charlottesville, VA]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 256
Subjects: Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 -- Homes and haunts -- Virginia -- Albemarle County; Levy, Uriah Phillips, 1792-1862; Levy family; Monticello (Va.) -- History; Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc. -- History; Historic sites -- Conservation and restoration -- Virginia -- Albemarle County; Historic buildings -- Virginia -- Albemarle County -- Design and construction; Neoclassicism (Architecture) -- Virginia -- Albemarle County; Historic preservation -- United States -- Case studies; Antisemitism -- United States -- Case studies
Genres: Case studies.
Description: Each year more than a half-million people from around the world visit Monticello, but few realize that Thomas Jefferson's house was also home to the family of U.S. Navy Captain Uriah P. Levy and his nephew Jefferson Monroe Levy, a United States Congressman. Even fewer realize that without the Levy family's stewardship, there might not be a Monticello to visit. Although the Levys literally saved Monticello from ruin--not once, but twice--in the nineteenth century, and actually owned the property longer than Jefferson, the family's vital contributions to preserving Thomas Jefferson's home have been largely ignored or minimized. In a story filled with drama, irony, political wrangling, and legal battles, Professor Melvin I. Urofsky corrects the misconception that a "century of ruin and neglect" marked Monticello between Jefferson's death and the creation of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the private, nonprofit organization that today owns and operates Monticello. The story of the Levys and Monticello is a,story of the blending of cultures and personalities, of Yankees and Virginians, of Jews and Christians, of city folk and rural people. It is the story of the power of a symbol, and how in America such symbols cut across lines of religion and class and ethnicity. And behind all of this is the towering presence of Thomas Jefferson.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-250) and index.