Historians work to accurately document history and new source material has the ability to change and enhance our understanding of events in the past. Take for example, a recent discovery by our American University graduate fellow, Rosie Cain.

In 1834, the U.S. was gifted a bronze sculpture of Jefferson, commissioned from Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. The piece initially sat in the Capitol Rotunda. Recently uncovered newspaper articles show that the statue was moved to the North Lawn of the White House in April 1843.

It remained there for 30 years (pictured), until August 1873, when President Ulysses S. Grant had the statue removed from its position on the White House Grounds. In 1900, the statue returned to the Capitol Rotunda, where it has remained ever since.

Image: US National Archives