As you navigate the COVID-19 crisis, we hope that our resources will provide items of interest, reference, and consideration. New material will be added as it becomes available, so check back often!
- Follow our blog for updates as new information and details come to light through our study of Monroe’s personal and public correspondence.
- Curious about what Monroe had to say about epidemics and quarantines? Find links to published documents and original manuscript images through our Research Resources pages.
- The Library of a President: Few things tell you as much about a person as what they make room for on their bookshelves. Explore an exhibit on the contents of Monroe’s personal library, and then browse his catalogue of books or compare his titles to those of other prominent early Americans. Where possible, titles are linked to digital copies so you can #readlikeapresident!
- 1818 Tour of the Chesapeake Bay: Staying home may be safer, but we’re looking forward to being able to road trip again! Live vicariously through Monroe in this exhibit featuring his 1818 tour of the Chesapeake Bay, in which he inspected sites for future fortifications and canals.
- Elizabeth Monroe left only three surviving letters, making her a truly enigmatic First Lady. What might she and her friend Dolley Madison discuss if they sat down together today?
- The arts have come front and center as a means of coping with the ongoing crisis. Explore music in the world of James Monroe, as well as his life through art and portraiture with Drs. Katherine and Daniel Preston.
- Have you found yourself working on genealogy recently? Check to see if you share an ancestor with James and Elizabeth Monroe’s family trees.
The University of Mary Washington Museums offers additional resources for Hands on History through the James Monroe Museum and Gari Melchers Home & Studio (Belmont).
