Inside the USC Libraries' special collections, you'll find the Thacher Tracts, 115 bound volumes documenting crucial developments in American history from 1772 to 1830. The volumes include religious and political pamphlets, sermons, and numerous government documents. While cataloging the collection, USC librarians discovered an original Thomas Jefferson signatureon a 1790 census report.
Read more in Dan Knapp's recent article for the USC Chronicle:
A Sign of the Times
18th-Century census records yield a rare Thomas Jefferson signature.
While cataloging a voluminous collection of books known collectively as the Thacher Tracts, USC Libraries special collections librarians discovered an original signature of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
The Thacher Tracts collect more than 115 bound volumes of historically significant items produced between 1772 and 1830, compiled by attorney, jurist, and statesman George Thacher. Thacher served as a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress in 1787 and 1788. He was elected a U.S. Congressman in 1789 and served until 1801.
Included in the volumes are more than 800 unique pamphlets and governmental documents that explore topics including the Embargo Act of 1807, the War of 1812, and the establishment of Maine’s statehood. Thacher also included numerous ordination and funeral sermons, among them copies of various eulogies that were delivered when George Washington died in 1799.
Jefferson’s signature is on the back of an official census report taken in 1790. USC librarians discovered the signature while cataloguing one of the last remaining volumes in the collection.
For more information on the Thacher Tracts, contact USC Libraries’ Special Collections at specol@usc.edu.