In the shadow of Thomas Jefferson: The architectural career of Thomas R. Blackburn, with a catalog of architectural drawings

The discovery and acquisition by the Virginia Historical Society of a collection of three bound volumes of architectural documents produced by Thomas R. Blackburn (1795--1867), an architect who learned the practice of architecture under Thomas Jefferson, makes it possible for the first time to make a sustained and systematic inquiry into the practice of a nineteenth century Virginia carpenter and architect. Until this discovery, Blackburn was unknown to modern scholars even though he was an accomplished and active architect. The drawings---all dated between 1821 and 1858---provide a window on the profession in a period in which too little is known about the persistent use of architectural books by practitioners.; Blackburn emerged in 1821 as a young carpenter engaged in building portions of the West Range of the University of Virginia. In these early years he embarked on an ambitious study of architectural drawing, guided, it appears, by Thomas Jefferson himself. Blackburn's sketchbooks record his study of architectural drawing, of working in watercolors, and of architectural history. He copied and annotated drawings from a number of architectural volumes, most importantly from The Architecture of A. Palladio; in Four Books (ed. Giacamo Leoni. 2nd ed. London, 1721), an rare edition available in Virginia through Jefferson. Blackburn copied much of Palladio's Book I. Blackburn also copied portions of William Chambers' A Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture (London, 1791), William Pain's The Practical Builder, or Workman's General Assistant (4th edition, Boston 1792), and from various editions of the publications of Asher Benjamin.; By these judicious transcriptions from a variety of books, Blackburn built up a working library of architectural details to which he referred often throughout his nearly forty year career in Virginia. Throughout this career, which included major domestic and civic projects in western Virginia, Blackburn relied upon his sketchbooks of images copied from pattern books, architectural drawings acquired from others, and his first-hand knowledge of some of Virginia's most important architectural landmarks.; The body of work produced by Blackburn yields richly illustrated documentation of the persistent manner in which architecture books informed nineteenth century architectural practice.