In January, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed resigned from the board of Monticello, the historic home of Thomas Jefferson. Here is a taste of Jason Armesto’s January 2, 2024 piece at The Daily Progress:
It is not clear why Gordon-Reed, who The Daily Progress could not reach for comment by press time, left the board.
Hers is the second high-profile departure from Monticello in recent months, after the October dismissal of Gabriele Rausse, the museum’s director of gardens and grounds who was helping to restore Jefferson’s grapevines on the mountaintop and who is considered the “Father of Virginia Wine.”
Both of their exits come after the October announcement that another Harvard historian, Jane Kamensky, will be taking over as president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation this month.
Neither of their departures were publicly announced by the foundation.
University of Virginia historian Alan Taylor is friends with both Kamensky and Gordon-Reed.
“There’s no mistake that Annette Gordon-Reed is an extremely distinguished person and her departure from the board is a loss. There’s no mistaking that,” he told The Daily Progress.
But he also added that he believes Kamensky will do a “terrific” job as the new president and that, like any institution, there needs to be some changes at the foundation.
“Jane Kamensky has initiated some changes that are well within her area of responsibility, and I wish Annette Gordon-Reed was more supportive of those changes,” he said. “It would be my preference if they saw eye to eye on those things. That would be the ideal world.”
“I don’t think she’d resign unless there was something she was concerned about,” he said.
Taylor cautioned that he has not spoken to either Kamensky or Gordon-Reed since he was told the news, and said he does not know exactly why Gordon-Reed stepped down.
“I’m just sorry she has done it because it’s a blow to a very important institution and one where I think Jane Kamensky is going to do some very important work,” he said.
Many of the board members who sat alongside Gordon-Reed did not respond to requests for comment from The Daily Progress.
And this:
While no one would publicly say why Gordon-Reed stepped down, multiple Monticello staff members, who declined to allow their names to be printed, said they knew of at least one reason why she would leave the board.
Before Gordon-Reed resigned, they said, the board offered University of Edinburgh American history professor Frank Cogliano the position of director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies. Cogliano had been serving in the position on an interim basis before the offer. But after offering Cogliano the job, staff members said, the board rescinded its offer at the direction of someone not on the board.
Read the rest here.
In this story, published on January 30, 2024, we also learn that historians Peter Onuf and Patrick Griffin also resigned after learning Cogliano was not chosen as permanent director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies. Here is more from this story:
…sources have told The Daily Progress that Gordon-Reed left in protest over decisions made by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s new president, fellow Harvard professor Jane Kamensky.
Gordon-Reed — whose extensive list of credentials as a celebrated Jefferson scholar includes a Pulitzer Prize for one of her books, “The Hemingses of Monticello” — was concerned by personnel decisions made by the new leadership.
“I don’t think [her concern] was about how Monticello interprets slavery, for example,” said one source familiar with the matter who asked not to be named. “It had to do with staffing.”
More specifically, sources say it had to do with Frank Cogliano, a University of Edinburgh professor and the interim director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello.
“I think Cogliano is in a line of scholarship that probably Annette felt loyal to and supportive of,” one person said.
A separate source who also asked not to be named offered more details, details the chair of the foundation board, Tobias Dengel, denies.
According to that source, when debating who to name as its new president, the foundation’s board was split between Cogliano and Kamensky, with Kamensky ultimately winning out. The Daily Progress was unable to confirm this account. Dengel and board member L.D. Britt recalled that the vote was unanimous.
Read the rest here.
Here is the latest piece of Armesto reporting (May 23, 2024). A taste:
There was a brief moment when Cogliano appeared on track to continue on as director. According to sources, he was offered the permanent position as director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies by Tobias Dengel, chairman of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation board and CEO of Charlottesville-based app developer WillowTree. But the offer was made over the phone, and there was never anything in writing.
Days later, the offer was revoked because Kamensky “refused to allow it,” according to another source who spoke with The Daily Progress earlier in the year and also requested anonymity.
Dengel did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Progress about the claim. But he denied it the last time he was contacted regarding the same accusation from other sources.
“I have never offered a job or permanent role at Monticello or the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to anyone besides Gardiner Hallock as Interim President and Jane Kamensky as President and that includes the permanent director role at ICJS,” Dengel wrote in January. “It is the mandate of the Board (and almost any Board) to select the President and then the President selects his or her leadership team.”
Cogliano himself has not commented the matter since The Daily Progress began reporting on his imminent exit and other departures from the mountaintop.
Both sources who have spoken with The Daily Progress on the condition of anonymity have requested not to be identified out of fear of retribution. They have been interviewed and vetted by The Daily Progress and their claims have been checked against one another.
Both say the internal drama can be traced back to the foundation’s search for a new president last fall in the wake of Bowman’s resignation after serving nearly 15 years in the position. After a search, the finalists for the top job were Kamensky and Cogliano, both of whom interviewed for the post, according to the sources.
In January, Dengel and board member L.D. Britt said the board selected Kamensky, a Harvard University historian and author, in a unanimous vote.
Both sources said that Kamensky seemed uncomfortable allowing Cogliano to continue in his role at the International Center for Jefferson Studies while she led the foundation after the two competed for the same job.
In November, not long after Kamensky was selected as president but before her tenure officially began, Monticello was to host a gala in New York City. Cogliano was to attend and was also scheduled to speak at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice.
The night before departing for New York, Cogliano received a phone call from interim President Gardiner Hallock, who disinvited the Jefferson scholar from the gala, according to one source. Cogliano still made the trip because he was set to speak at the Ford Foundation, but the source said he did not attend the gala.
Hallock did not respond to request for comment from The Daily Progress.
Monticello’s website includes a page commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, asking readers to join a “special gathering of Monticello’s greatest friends and supporters.” It includes an itinerary for Nov. 2 and Nov. 3.
On Nov. 2, Cogliano is listed as a featured guest speaker for a conversation on “Dreams of the Future, History of the Past” at the Ford Foundation. The following night, according to the schedule, was a black-tie event: the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Centennial Gala.
After the perceived sleight, Cogliano offered to end his contract early and return to his post at the University of Edinburgh, “because he knew he wasn’t wanted” at Monticello, one source said.
Kamensky denied Cogliano’s request, the source said.
“He tried to get out of the way, he tried to make things easier,” said the source. “[Kamensky] wouldn’t allow him to do that.”
Read the entire piece here.
What is going on here? I don’t know. But the above remark about the type of Jefferson scholarship Gordon-Reed and Cogliano practice may provide one clue.