Ken Burns (right) working on the Thomas Jefferson documentary with Geoffrey Ward and MHC alum Camilla Rockwell '72. History professor Joe Ellis is a "talking head" on the show.
"I think we [scholars] have an obligation to speak to a broader audience than just a few other scholars," says Joseph Ellis, Ford Foundation Professor of History. He will speak to millions across the nation this week when Thomas Jefferson, a documentary by award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns of Civil War fame, airs on PBS (at 9 pm on February 18 and 19).
One of the most respected historians on the Revolutionary-era Jefferson and author of the recently published American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, Ellis is one of several "talking heads" who lend their expertise on Jefferson and his time. The documentary is part of what Ellis calls a "Jefferson surge," a recent outpouring of books and even a major motion picture on this man whom Ellis believes is "the single most contested figure in American history."
Mount Holyoke is in the midst of this "surge" in more ways than one. The film's coproducer is MHC alumna Camilla Rockwell '72, who researched the project for four years and conducted the interviews. Another talking head, Andrew Bernstein, was a visiting professor at Mount Holyoke in 1995-96, and published a book on Jefferson that year.
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