Positive reconstruction · reader-scoped, not an inferred-absence lacuna
This reconstruction covers the readable fraction of Thomas Jefferson's formation -- attested reading and writing only, not the whole of a life.
Thomas Jefferson and Westover Manuscripts (journal)
Thomas Jefferson's attested relationship to Westover Manuscripts (journal).
Thomas Jefferson is attested as having read this work by an unknown author.
Evidence ledger
- First-person reading testimony (Explicit first-person perusal of a manuscript work: 'After I had sent off the two other Westover MSS. I received a third of the same journal. On perusing it I am not sensible by memory, of anything not contained in the former, except eight pages of a preliminary account...' The passage identifies the work by its standing designation (the Westover MSS journal, vellum-bound) but names no author - proposed as a new Work by that designation, author omitted rather than invented.). Self-report reliability discount 0.85: Comparative perusal from memory ('On perusing it I am not sensible by memory, of anything not contained in the former, except eight pages...') implies close reading of all three copies; scholarly-custodial context motivates accuracy; small discount for the summary character of the claim.