Peculiar Satisfaction: Thomas Jefferson and the Mastery of Subjects

How Thomas Jefferson’s vision for knowledge shapes what we know and how we access it—and why that matters more than ever

As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Peculiar Satisfaction examines how the ideals and contradictions of the nation’s founding live on in libraries, archives, and museums. Thomas Jefferson championed an informed citizenry as essential to democracy, yet the systems he built to organize knowledge reinforced racial and ide...