Martha
Jefferson's
Personal Effects
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),
Martha Jefferson (d. 1782), and
Anne Cary Randolph
Holograph manuscript notebook,
Page 2
1772-1782
Manuscript Division
State Department transfer, 1904 (196.1)
Martha Jefferson's thread case
Manuscript Division
State Department transfer, 1904 (196.4)
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This household account and recipe book is one of the few surviving
documents written by Thomas Jefferson's wife, Martha. Kept during
the years of her marriage, 1772-1782, the book contains household
instructions such as how to extract rennet from the stomachs of
young ruminants like calves and sheep to coagulate milk for use
in the production of cheese.
This thread case, used by Martha Wales Skelton Jefferson, is one
of the few personal items Thomas Jefferson kept that had belonged
to his wife. Some of the original pins and needles can be seen in
the case, which Jefferson preserved in his papers. Martha's thread
case, along with her household account and recipe book (kept during
the years of her marriage, 1772-1782), containing her household
instructions, recipes, and inventory of household goods provide
tangible artifacts of the economic and social role of the southern
plantation mistress
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