From my colleague Robb Haberman: Check out this interview with Dora Petherbridge, curator at the National Library of Scotland on the Junto blog: http://earlyamericanists.com/2014/09/16/edinburghs-early-americans/ The NLS has the letters/diaries of Henrietta Marchant (1751-1828) who provides the following description of Governor Jay: “His eye is penetrating, his conversation sensible & intelligent; his deportment grave &, though his […]
Follow John Jay on Twitter!
America’s most prudent Founding Father has joined the Twitterverse. Follow him here at JJTalking. […]
Happy Bastille Day!
Happy Bastille Day! On 19 July 1789, Thomas Jefferson, still in France, wrote Minister for Foreign Affairs John Jay a vivid report of the storming of the Bastille. For a full text of the letter, visit Founders Online, here. […]
NEH Grant!
Rare Book and Manuscript Library Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Grant for the Papers of John Jay NEW YORK, September 5, 2013 – Columbia University Libraries/Information Services is pleased to announce the receipt of a $175,000 Scholarly Editions grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to the Selected Papers of John Jay, […]
Peace
Yesterday was the 230th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the treaty that ended the American Revolution. Volume 3 of the Selected Papers of John Jay (UVA Press) covers the negotiations that ended the war, showing the complicated process that is diplomacy, a process often ignored. The NHPRC supports the work of […]
John Jay Ide, Spy
John Jay's great-grandson, John Jay Ide, was not only an architect and art collector. He was an aviation pioneer and instrumental in gathering intelligence on the Nazi's aviation program during the 1930s. Read historian Roger D. Launius's fascinating account of JJI's exploits here. […]
On this day in 1789. . .
George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States under the new constitution. Surprisingly, John Jay, the first Chief Justice did not perform the swearing in ceremony. Rather, the New York State Chancellor Robert R. Livingston had this honor. Howerver, Jay was present for the ceremony and the festivities that followed. […]
A John Jay “joke”
From the Philadelphia Inquirer of September 29 1908. While Jay did have an audience with King George III in July of 1794, while negotiating the Jay Treaty, one suspects the conversation was rather different. […]
John Jay’s Circuit Court Diary
Check out my post on John Jay's Circuit Court Diary on the RBML blog "Off the Shelf" here. […]
Is this John Jay’s gun?
One of the things I do when I have a few spare minutes is to search the collections databases of an increasing number of museums and archives, both for things I'm personally interested in and, of course, all things John Jay. One of my favorites is the Metropolitan Museum of Art's database and one of […]