Historical Possessions
- The Society owns the original of one of Thomas Sully's two paintings of Thomas Jefferson, one of the only surviving portraits of Jefferson drawn from life and valued at several million dollars. It is on loan to the University and hangs in the Rotunda.
- A second significant artifact is the Society's Edgar Allan Poe signature. Poe signed the minutes book one evening during which he served as secretary pro tem: a signature that was later clipped out by Lancelot Blackford, a UVa student in the 1850s—stealing it, yet also saving it, as it turned out, from the Great Rotunda Fire of 1895. Society alumni in the early 1980s raised the money to buy the signature from a collector, in honor of their friend and fellow alumnus, James F. Perz. The signature is kept in secure storage as part of the University library's special collections.
- One of the Society's roll books contains the signature of Woodrow Wilson during his tenure as the Society's President. The Society's minute books contain many sets of minutes written and signed by Wilson when he was the Society's Secretary.
Read more about this topic: Jefferson Literary And Debating Society
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