The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society is proud to introduce its new journal. The Journal of Thomas Jefferson's Life and Times will be published twice yearly. The spring issue will be released in May. The fall issue will be released in November.
The Journal is theme-based with each issue highlighting a different Jeffersonian topic. The subjects are progressive in the sense that discussions in earlier issues provide insights into discussions in later issues. As in Jefferson's life, one thing relates to another. One's understanding of Jefferson and his optic will therefore become increasingly clear as the inter-connections of his interests and enterprises are revealed.
The Editor of the journal is Dr. M. (Mark) Andrew Holowchak. Mark will introduce each issue with an opening comment in which he will say a few words about the issue's topic and introduce the scholars who discuss it. Regular departments will include Book Reviews, Letters to the Editor, and a Calendar of Events. Guidelines for submissions will be published in each issue and can also be found on the journal's webpage, which is can be accessed from the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society webpage (https: //www.tjheritage.org/), and directly at: http: //tj-journal.webs.com/.
Feature essays will consider Jefferson in terms of the issue's theme. These are longer pieces that will be accompanied by eight to ten articles, which may elucidate or rebut points raised by the author of the feature essay. Pieces that appear in The Journal will be written by professional and private scholars from a wide range of disciplines.
Because Thomas Jefferson was a uniquely significant person, he continues to be important nearly two centuries after his death. To communicate an accurate picture of this man, we intend to avoid committing the error of "presentism," which occurs when historical figures are judged by the standards of "present day" authors. We will do this by publishing evidence-based scholarship. Authors of essays and articles appearing in The Journal will validate their theses and claims with citations from appropriate original sources that are properly footnoted.
Since the purpose of The Journal is to publish good, evidence-based scholarship, we will not publish articles that interpret Jefferson or his times in terms of current social or political agendas. We reserve the right, however, to correct misrepresentations and other errors that result from presentist analyses.
The Journal of Thomas Jefferson's Life and Times is published by the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society as an imprint of Commonwealth Books of Virginia.
