1From James Madison to James Dinsmore, 16 December 1809 (Madison Papers)
In your letter by Mr. Gooch, You suggestd. it as proper not to open a door from the Center room to admit a communication with the Kitchen. As that room will not probably be a permanent Dining room, it was not my intention that such a door should be opened, tho’ I forgot to mention it to you. The width of the Sheets of Iron, is 18 inches or so near it as that you may proceed on that...
2From James Madison to James Dinsmore, [ca. 24 April 1809] (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 17th. and will attend to the bill of Articles inclosed in it. I can furnish you with the $500 whenever you chuse to draw on me, or to signify that it be sent. ⟨You⟩ may dispose of the Porch at the S. W. end of the House as my Mother pleases. The area to the S. Wing may be omitted; but Mr. Chisolm, must run up the wall so as to have a proper face, when the area...
3From James Madison to James Dinsmore, 17 August 1812 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
17 August 1812. Acknowledges receipt of Dinsmore’s letter of 5 Aug. [not found]. Has remitted $407 to Mr. Warnock and has received a receipt. Hopes to be at Montpelier soon. RC (owned by Robert G. Kaufmann, Wayne Township, N.J., 1985). 1 p.
4From James Madison to James Dinsmore, 14 December 1812 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. Ca. 14 December 1812. Offered for sale in the American Art Association Catalogue, 2–3 Dec. 1926, item 331, where it is described as an “Autograph Letter Signed … franked, December 14, 1812,… regarding an account.”
5From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 10 June 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 5th . is recieved this day. I wonder the Copper sheets had not got to hand, as it is very long since they left Philadelphia. the steps, or plinths for the dome must be got from Fluvanna. as there seems to be too little dependance on Reuben Perry to let the whole work of the housejoiner & plaisterer depend on him alone, I will pray you to engage some other person to go on with the...
6From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 22 June 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
I have just learned by letters from mr Traquair & mr Jefferson that mr Stewart is gone on, having arrived at Richmond the 17th. inst. so that I presume he is with you by this time. I am rendered uneasy by the account I have of the condition in which he was there. if it be habitual, he could not be trusted with the superintendance of the nailery. Mr. Traquair had once before got alarmed on the...
7From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 19 March 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
This is merely to correct an error in my last . I mentioned that the brick pilasters should have their Capitals 3. courses of brick high & with 3. projections. but as the Capital should be in height only half the diameter, & that is of a brick and a half, say 13. I. the height of the capital must be of 2. courses only, each course projecting 1.¼ I. so as to make the upper one 2. bricks square....
8From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 22 June 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 17th. is recieved. a very useful emploiment for mr. Fitch will be the partitioning the side and end of the kitchen, and studding the 3. servants rooms. the kitchen partitions are to be of inch plank, planed on both sides, & square jointed. the front & partitions of the servants rooms and dairy to be bricknogged, with good lime mortar: or perhaps the front of the dairy had better...
9From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 20 July 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 12th . did not get to hand till last night. the ornaments for the frize of the chamber left this on the 10th. and are probably at Richmond by this time. but I shall be at home on Sunday, as early as they will arrive. from what you mention of the rotting of the sleepers of the Bow part of the Parlour, & the ends of the other, I presume that wall was close & that they have dry...
10From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 15 October 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
On opening the door leading from the passage into my bookroom, and on the shelves to the left, immediately on entrance, are a parcel of locks which I omitted to give out to mr Perry to be put on the doors he made. there are 3. small Cup-board locks for the 3. lockers in the kitchen. 3. japanned closet locks, for the 3. servants rooms, and a 4th. I think for the North necessary. of the stock...
11From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 1 December 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of Nov. 25 is recieved and I have ordered the patera wanting for the tea-room. with respect to the joists for the N. West wing of offices, I leave it to yourself to decide; only let there be no danger of failure for want of due strength. I am quite at a loss about the nailboys remaining with mr Stewart. they have long been a dead expense instead of a profit to me. in truth they require...
12From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 10 December 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
I some days ago wrote directions to mr Lilly for filling the Icehouse : but I forgot one previous requisite, which I must get you to have done. make a long square tube , open at both ends, 6. I. square within, & reaching from the bottom of the well of the icehouse up through the flat roof. the bottom of the tube to be notched thus to let water run into it at bottom. then make a square bucket...
13From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 3 January 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
I conclude absolutely to cover my terras with sheet iron , and have accordingly written to Philadelphia to see if I can procure sheets 15. I. wide and 9½ f. long.—The method of doing it is shewn below Fig. 1. it consists in forming gutters across the terras declining from the ridge pole to the eaves, the gutters being 21. I. horizontal measure each. We shall take off the present shingling, and...
14From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 18 May 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 1st. & 9th. have been recieved, and the last has much relieved me as to the last box or boxes of Composition ornament. it was impossible to think of taking mr Hudson’s cherry , for which he asked five times what has ever been given within my knolege. I hope mr Meriwether’s will suffice for the parlour, and we must take time for the rest. I am told there is great difference in...
15Drawing of the Fireplace for Monticello’s Parlor, 18 May 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
MS ( MHi ); undated; entirely in TJ’s hand; see Nichols, Architectural Drawings Frederick Doveton Nichols, Thomas Jefferson’s Architectural Drawings, Compiled and with Commentary and a Check List , Charlottesville, 1978 , No. 160. Although the Editors cannnot be completely certain that this sketch was among those enclosed by TJ, the above drawing matches almost exactly the design that Dinsmore...
16From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 28 January 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
I return you the drawings for the architrave of the front of the gallery, with a preference of that marked b. with the rounded listel. I do not approve of cutting the wall, not even the cellar wall, to make a space for the descent of the clock weights ; but would have them advanced into the room so as to descend clear even of the cellar wall. should the box in this case encroach too much on...
17From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 24 May 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 18th . is recieved and I have this day inclosed to mr Deblois of Alexandria 20. D. for Alexander Perry and 10. D. for mrs Wanscher. mr Duncan shall have 20. D. a month and his washing done. you will be so good as to give directions for the latter. I presume he engages to continue till all the work is ready for mr Wanscher. I will thank you to keep me informed of your progress, of...
18From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 13 June 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 9th . is recieved, and I now inclose you a five dollar bill for mr Wanscher. after you have finished the Dome room, I would rather you should finish the three bed rooms on the same floor that we may have them plaistered & ready for use. if J. Perry has not done the floors of those rooms, he should finish them in preference to every thing else. mr Stewart should finish off the...
19From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 24 June 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night your favor of the 20th. I am very sorry mr Wanscher has plaistered the cieling of the Hall before the floor above was laid. as to waiting a month or two for the keys of the plaistering to get hard, a century would not make them proof against the effect of putting up the partitions above and laying the floor. let the partitions above therefore be put up immediately & the...
20Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 26 September 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Johnny Hemings is just entering on a job of sash doors for the house at Poplar forest , and tells me he cannot proceed without his sash planes & the templet belonging to them in your possession. they may come safely in a box by the stage, to the care of mr Higginbotham . if you could send them by Sunday’s stage you would oblige me. Accept my best wishes. RC ( ViU : TJP ); addressed: “M
21Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 13 April 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
We are about to establish a College near Charlottesville on the lands formerly Col o Monroe ’s, a mile above the town. we do not propose to erect a single grand buid building , but to form a square of perhaps 200 yards, and to arrange around that pavilions of about 24. by 36.f. one for every professorship & his school. they are to be of various forms, models of chaste architecture, as examples...
22Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 25 June 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
On examining the sites for our college we found not one comparable to Perry ’s, and prices beyond our means; and as Perry persisted positively in refusing a deed but on condition of doing the wooden work of the building now proposed, it was concluded we ought not to lose the permanent advantages to the institution, on a question about the execution of this single building, and especially as he...
23From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 8 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
After writing to you yesterday, I was at the painting room of mr Stewart (the celebrated portrait painter) who had first suggested to me the painting a floor green, which he had himself tried with fine effect. he observed that care should be taken to hit the true grass -green, & as he had his pallet & colours in his hand, I asked him to give me a specimen of the colour, which he instantly...
24From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 26 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 22d. came to hand yesterday. I inclose you two specimens of cherry, one done with boiled linseed oil, the other with the newspaper composition you referred to. I think the former the best; but am inclined to believe that daily rubbing with wax will soon produce the same effect. I rather think therefore of leaving the floor to time to give it’s proper colour. as you will but...
25From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 31 October 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I find by Latrobe & Mifflin’s account that on the 7th. of Aug. they shipped for me from Philadelphia 2. boxes of sheet iron weighing 7C—2n/2.—16℔ has it ever been recieved? be so good as to inform me by return of post as I am called on for paiment. I never sent to them for sheet iron but twice. the question is then whether we have recieved a supply of sheet iron once only, or twice. best...
26From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 28 December 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
In answer to your letter of the 20th. I would prefer that the door of the North pavilion should be a folding one, opening from the outer architrave into the jamb, so as to enter the room but a little below the chairboard, within, it is to be plaistered. the cornice to be Tuscan of the form of that used in the bedrooms of the house, but proportioned to the height of the room, that is to say,...
27From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 31 May 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Will you be so good as to press mr Jordan for the circular bricks? the semicircular cast iron sashes will be at Monticello before I shall, & I shall be anxious while at home to get them put in. mr Barry will be with us about the last of September, before which the glass will be recieved, & also the sheet iron for the South offices. I salute you with my best wishes. MHi : Coolidge Collection.
28From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 28 June 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Barry is engaged in some painting for this house & the Capitol, and tells me he can get a crate of window glass here for Monticello; & he thinks it safest that he should cut it here & pack it because it will be so much less liable to break in small plates than great ones. I must therefore get you to cut models of the circular panes in stiff writing paper & inclose them to me by the return...
29From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 4 October 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
We have finished two large windows of this house with Venetian blinds in the place of window shutters, and shutting into the jambs as the shutters would. They are beautiful & convenient. the slats move on 2. pivots as mine do, and are made to lie close when shut into the jamb that they may occupy less thickness. I think the following windows in my house may be advantageously finished in this...
30From Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore, 18 October 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote to mr Jefferson, on my arrival here, to forward 1000 ℔ of lead to Monticello, and yesterday I recieved a letter from him informing me he could find but 50. ℔ of lead in all Richmond, & for that they asked 1/. the ℔ considering the price & difficulty of the article, I refer it to your consideration whether it will not be better to have the weights cast here of iron, where they will be...