Thomas Jefferson Foundation

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation (formerly the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation) owns and operates Monticello, the mountaintop home of Thomas Jefferson and the only home in America on the elite World Heritage List of the United Nations. Incorporated in 1923, after the federal government waived its third opportunity to acquire Monticello for the nation, the Foundation purchased the house and land from the Levy family, stewards of the estate for 89 years. As a private, nonprofit organization, the Foundation receives no regular federal or state budget support for its twofold mission of preservation and education. Since 1923, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has steadily expanded its role as a museum and educational institution. Its facilities now include the house and gardens on nearly 2,000 of Jeffersons original 5,000 acres; the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies next door at Kenwood, a headquarters for Jeffersonian research and teaching and home to th...