He safeguarded President Thomas Jefferson’s plantation home while seeking to “tell the most honest story we can” about issues of race and slavery.
Historian Daniel P. Jordan, the longtime leader of Monticello, circa 1985, when he became executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. He safeguarded the estate for nearly a quarter-century. Daniel P. Jordan, a historian who guided Monticello into the 21st century, safeguarding President Thomas Jefferson’s mountaintop plantation while broadening its educational programs to encompass discussions of slavery and race, died March 21 in Charlottesville. He was 85.
As a history professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Dr. Jordan had sought to educate the general public, not just future academics. Declaring that he was “against historians who talk only to other historians,” he delivered lectures that were broadcast on public radio and led classes for inmates at the Virginia State Penitentiary.
The recognition drew further attention to Monticello, where Dr. Jordan welcomed dignitaries including the Dalai Lama, in addition to greeting unassuming visitors arriving by minivan or tour bus. With help from the ticket office, he set up a “Magnolia Alert” so that he could offer an effusive hello to anyone who arrived with a Mississippi license plate. Dr.
“The foundation has long believed that you cannot understand Thomas Jefferson without understanding slavery,” he added. “And that you cannot understand Monticello without understanding its African American community.” After graduating from Ole Miss with a bachelor’s degree in 1960 and a master’s in history in 1962, he served as an Army infantryman, with postings in South Korea and Western Europe. He taught history classes while abroad, through the overseas division of the University of Maryland, and returned home to continue his education at the University of Virginia, where he studied under Jefferson scholar Merrill D. Peterson and received his PhD in 1970.
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