This week on the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Clay Jenkinson visits with Pat Brodowski, formerly the head gardener at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Pat explains how she found her way to Monticello, what she learned about Thomas Jefferson from working every day in his extensive garden, and how she is occupying her time now as a retiree. Plus, Pat gives tips to our listeners about how to grow something in the next year.
Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky and Clay Jenkinson discuss Jefferson's daughters. Thomas Jefferson was highly expectant of their behavior and let them know it through a series of letters. When he died in bankruptcy, his daughter Martha was left nearly penniless and had to deal with the aftermath of Jefferson's poor money management.
Clay Jenkinson speaks with David Swenson about the ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore and her work with the Lakota in the Dakotas beginning in 1911. David has spent the last year working on The Densmore Repatriation Project, re-cataloging and restoring her wax cylinder recordings.
At Standing Rock in 1911, Frances Densmore met with dozens of tribal elders and recorded traditional songs on wax cylinder. Densmore documented this work in her book Teton Sioux Music which became a touchstone for learning about Lakota/Dakota culture. The Densmore Repatriation Project reintroduces the songs with new recordings made by contemporary Native singers.
The Densmore Project’s website: lakotasongs.com
The Densmore Project on YouTube
KX News: Re-introducing Lakota Songs
Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky and Clay Jenkinson discuss King George III and his effect on the American Revolution. According to the British historian George Otto Trevelyan, the King was determined to "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse."
I hope you will find these stories uplifting as well as funny. I’m a Jeffersonian. I believe we are all on a quest to become our best selves. I’m always delighted when I can be funny, but my mission in life is to provide valuable perspective, lucidity, historical context, and good sense in every room I find myself.
On February 25, 2020, Clay Jenkinson appeared before a sold out crowd at the TCC Roper Performing Arts Center in Norfolk, Virginia for his new performance, “Talking out of Tights,” an evening of humor and storytelling in which Jenkinson reflects on the comedic side of a life performing as Thomas Jefferson – the surprising encounters, the wigs, the arrests (!) – all for the love of the humanities. The show was sponsored by WHRV public radio. On this week's Jefferson Hour we hear excerpts from that performance, and also answer listener questions.
"Nobody ever used the English language to greater effect than William Shakespeare."
— Clay
Clay discusses his new show, "Clay Jenkinson's Shakespeare the Magic of the Word" — which held its world premiere in Norfolk, VA in September — and shares Jefferson's thoughts and regard for the work of William Shakespeare.
This week, part two of the Jefferson Hour in front of a live studio audience in Norfolk, Virginia at the studios of WHRO/WHRV-FM with host Barbara Hamm Lee.
I hope you will find these stories uplifting as well as funny. I’m a Jeffersonian. I believe we are all on a quest to become our best selves. I’m always delighted when I can be funny, but my mission in life is to provide valuable perspective, lucidity, historical context, and good sense in every room I find myself.
In the course of my long strange trip through life I have had the chance to do some really satisfying things. One of my favorites is to do a varied series of public presentations in a short space of time.
"You think I'm joking, but I wanted a square America."
— Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson goes on the road this week to Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. The performance was taped live at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts on September 15, 2018 in front of an audience of over 500 people. The event was hosted by Dustin Treiber, the program director of Four States Public Radio station KRPS.
The subject of this episode was the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson, to begin the conversation, pointed out to the citizens of Kansas that he bought the state for three cents per acre from Napoleon Bonaparte.
I am so mighty privileged to have this responsibility, to play this role, to get to look at the universe through the eyes of one of the most fascinating individuals ever to walk the face of the earth.