Additional Resources
Fiske Kimball
Clarence Ward used Fiske Kimball's 1916 Thomas Jefferson, Architect to build the Art Library's Thomas Jefferson Architectural Books Collection. Fiske Kimball (1888-1955) was a highly influential architectural historian, credited with creating the field of American architectural history and establishing Jefferson's prominent place in the field.[2] In the bibliography Kimball assembled the various books on architecture and gardening which Jefferson owned at one time or another, with the dates of their acquisition and of their disposal by him or his heirs, so far as these dates are ascertainable.[3] Kimball states that to know what architectural books were at hand is particularly important in Jefferson's case on account of his dependence on books for his inspiration.
Millicent Sowerby
The standard reference for Jefferson's 1815 collection is Millicent Sowerby's massive Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson (1952-9). Sowerby painstakingly compiled this 4,931-item bibliography from lists in the Library of Congress and from Jefferson's letters. The project was intended for Jefferson's bicentennial in 1943, but was not completed until 16 years later.[4]
Mark Dimunation, chief of the Library of Congress' Rare Book and Special Collections division, called Sowerby's Catalogue the greatest bibliography of the 20th century.[5] Sowerby's bibliography is the foundation of the Library of Congress' re-creation of Jefferson's library
William O'Neal
Thomas Jefferson created an extensive bibliography of fine art books for the library at the University of Virginia. Jefferson himself designed the buildings for the University, and saw his buildings as valuable educational examples. Ray W. Frantz writes that ...the University's holdings in architectural books and the physical aspect of the University were to reinforce one another...[6]
William O'Neal's A Fine Arts Library: Jefferson's Selections for the University of Virginia (1976) is based on the list prepared by Jefferson and his secretary, Nicholas Trist, in 1825, and has been further checked against the University's 1828 printed library catalog.
[1]Mark Dimunation. The Whole of Recorded Knowledge: Jefferson as Collector and Reader (paper presented at The Libraries, Leadership & Legacy of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, Boston, Mass., June 21-27, 2009.
[2] Richard Guy Wilson. "Kimball, Fiske." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, (accessed April 19, 2011).
[3] Fiske Kimball, Thomas Jefferson, architect; original designs in the collection of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, Junior.... (1916), p. 90-101.
[4]Mark Dimunation. The Whole of Recorded Knowledge: Jefferson as Collector and Reader(paper presented at The Libraries, Leadership & Legacy of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, Boston, Mass., June 21-27, 2009, (accessed April 19, 2011).
[5] Fineberg, Gail. "Thomas Jefferson’s Library." June, 2008. (accessed April 21, 2011).
[6] O'Neal, William B. A Fine Arts Library: Jefferson's Selections for the University of Virginia Together with His Architectural Books at Monticello: an Exhibition Sponsored by the Alderman Library & the Committee on the Bicentennial, February-May 1976. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1976.
Jane Sandberg, Oberlin College Art Library, May 11, 2011. Last revised August 2026.