CONVERSATIONS AT THE WASHINGTON LIBRARY PODCAST
Episode 220: Educating Early Americans with Drs. Mark Boonshoft and Andrew O’Shaughnessy
If you had been alive in eighteenth-century America, you would've had little opportunity for formal schooling or an advanced education. Unless you were among the elite or at least of some means, your chances of attending a local academy or Harvard College weren’t great. But the American Revolution ushered in a new era of education in the United States that paved the way for the educational opportunities we take for granted today.
Education became seen as central to the survival of the republic, with local communities, states, and the new federal government all interested in expanding educational opportunities for some Americans, though not as much for others. And in the 1820s, Thomas Jefferson would embark on last great project of his life – the founding of the University of Virginia – which he hoped would preserve the meaning of the Revolution as he understood it.
On today’s show, we’re fortunate to have two old chums return to the program to talk with Jim Ambuske about the crucial role of education in early America.
Dr. Mark Boonshoft is the Executive Director of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, and he is the author of Aristocratic Education and the Making of the American Republic, which was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2020. We’re joined by Dr. Andrew O’Shaughnessy, the Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, who recently authored The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind: Thomas Jefferson’s Idea of a University, published by the University of Virginia Press in 2021.
LAPHAM’S QUARTERLY: THE WORLD IN TIME
Episode 84: Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy
This week on the podcast, Lewis H. Lapham speaks with Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy, author of The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind: Thomas Jefferson’s Idea of a University about Jefferson’s influence on public education and how to balance this legacy with his place in historical memory as an enslaver.
AMERICAN POTUS
POTUS 3: The Founding Father who Founded a University
The American POTUS podcast looks at the consequential policies and compelling personalities of each extraordinary patriot that's held our nation’s highest office.
HISTORICALLY THINKING
Episode 229: Mr. Jefferson and his University
Andrew O'Shaughnessy Reframes Myths and Narratives, What Thomas Jefferson really intended for the University of Virginia
Andrew O’Shaughnessy recently discussed his new book, The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind: Thomas Jefferson’s Idea of a University, on Historically Thinking, a podcast by Charlottesville-based historian Al Zambone. O’Shaughnessy and Zambone examine Jefferson’s models of learning; why his educational reforms were so tightly bound with his republican convictions; and the practical political cunning—from initial concept to first enrolled students—with which Jefferson saw the university through.
Along the way O’Shaughnessy punctures myths and reframes narratives. He persuasively argues, for example, that the university’s students were no more prone to outrageous behavior than those at Harvard or Heidelberg, and that the influence of the University of Virginia on American higher education is much greater than generally allowed.
REVOLUTION 250
JUNE 22, 2021: THOMAS JEFFERSON & THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Why was education such a critical goal of America's revolutionaries? We talk with Andrew J. O'Shaughnessy about his new book, TheThe Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind, about Thomas Jefferson's idea of a university.