History Instructor Participates in Unique Opportunity

Snead State Community College History and Political Science Instructor Grover Kitchens (pictured at left in the Library of Congress) attended a National Endowment for the Humanities workshop on Thomas Jefferson in Washington D.C. in July.

The workshop is sponsored by the “We the People” grant from the federal government and has the idea that to truly understand history the participants must visit the “landmarks” of history. The “Thomas Jefferson: Legacies and Landmarks” workshop does just that.

Mr. Kitchens was chosen from community college instructors nationwide and was one of only 50 participants in this particular workshop. He had access to some of the most historic documents and items in the life of Jefferson.

“To be able to walk the paths of and view the products of Jefferson’s life was amazing,” said Mr. Kitchens.

Points of interest during Mr. Kitchens’ visit to Washington, D.C. included the Library of Congress, Monticello, and The University of Virginia. 

“All of these areas were greatly impacted by Thomas Jefferson. When the Library of Congress was burned by the British, the core of the new collection was from Jefferson,” said Mr. Kitchens.

He viewed the original collection from one of the founders and the writer of the Declaration of Independence. His tour of the Library included presentations by scholars and the author Peter Onuf, who wrote “The Mind of Thomas Jefferson.” 

According to Mr. Kitchens, the home of Monticello was full of innovations, books, and innovative architecture, and the culmination of those ideas was in the founding of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Va.

“The location of Monticello is a pivotal place in the life of Jefferson who loved to be there more than any other place,” said Mr. Kitchens. “Tours of Jefferson’s former home included information on his plantings, gardens, innovations (such as the dumb-waiter) and architecture. Here he welcomed many friends, entertained as a gentleman of the era would, enjoyed family life, and, most importantly to him, read and corresponded by letter. The large number of Jeffersonian letters provided the information for many of the lecture topics during the workshop.”

One of the workshop topics centered around something that was near and dear to Jefferson - education.

“He felt that education was not as free as it should be and was too tied to the church and the constricted views of certain religions. Being a man who was well read in all manner of literature, Jefferson wanted a college that had as a focal point not a chapel, but a chapel to the mind - the library.

“Today we hold this view of exploration and investigation as the cornerstone of education. Jefferson is, most probably, the founder of this idea in America. The University of Virginia was one of his proudest accomplishments and not only was it innovative in ideas but also in architecture as well,” said Mr. Kitchens. “It is considered to be innovative in layout and function, and many colleges in the future would look to it as an example of how a college was supposed to look.



Capitol Building



“Thomas Jefferson was an inventor, great thinker, excellent writer, and one of the most important men in our history, and it was a great experience to be in the places that he called home,’ said Mr. Kitchens. “I am extremely honored to again be chosen for a National Endowment for the Humanities workshop and feel that they add a great deal to my classroom instruction.”

Mr. Kitchens has previously attended workshop events in Savannah, Georgia, and Oxford, Mississippi.