Jefferson, Thomas. Manuscript document (unsigned)...

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Jefferson, Thomas. Manuscript document (unsigned) Jefferson, Thomas. Manuscript document (unsigned), 1 page, (10 x 7 ¾ in. 254 x 196.85 mm.) 31 Aug. 1790 on verso in a contemporaneous hand, "Mr. Jefferson's Instructions". Professional archival reinforcement to the folds on verso. Jefferson has penned a listing of items bound for Monticello, with a ghosting of an apparently unpublished memorandum in Jefferson's hand as an ink offset on the blank portions of the note. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson inventories his goods bound for Monticello as the new American government moves from New York to Philadelphia. Jefferson lists his property and, when necessary, includes the respective dimensions and volume (cubic feet). Jefferson pens in full: "No 1. Paper press. 26.I [nches]. Cube. 10 cubs. feet 2. Pembroke tables. 36I. 26I. 31I. 15 ½ [cubic feet] 3. Press under part. 57I. 26I. 27I. 23 ¼ [cubic feet] 4. [Press] upper part. 58I. 56I. 18I. 34 ½ [cubic feet] 5. Side board. 64I. 42I. 32I 50 [cubic feet] 6. Dining tables 58I. 33I. 26I. 31 [cubic feet] 7. Chair 56I. 29I. 29I. 25 ½ [cubic feet] 8. Working table 39I. 33I. 7I. 3 ¾ [cubic feet] 9. Cask of coffee containing about 100 lb. 10. Box earthen ware, some chine [sp.], candlesticks, four barrels/one box containing 58 bacon hams, a hogshead, about a gross of empty bottles, 10 bottles cyder [sp.], handirons &c, mattresses, Servants beadsteads, kitchen tables, 5 pr. simple chairs, mahogany in mats[?] 6. arm chairs d[itt]o, 1 green stool, 30 green chairs & 1 green stool, two boxes of Mr. Madison's." The 1790 ink date most certainly related to Jefferson's departure from New York City, the temporary seat of federal government from March 1789 to December of 1790. Following Washington's August 30 departure from Mount Vernon, Jefferson prepared for his own return to Monticello on the first of September. Accompanied by James Madison, Jefferson spent nearly two months in Virginia before establishing himself at the new seat of the federal government in Philadelphia. In light of this relocation, the inclusion of two boxes belonging to his traveling companion, James Madison, and the fact that Jefferson lists only 18 Windsor chairs in his plans for the layout of the comparatively small Philadelphia residence he rented from Thomas Leiper, our lengthy inventory found its way to Monticello after its shipment from Paris. Records at Monticello indicating that 28 Windsor chairs were found in the waiting hall of Jefferson's sprawling Virginia home add further evidence that this list is bound for that residence.