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About the project

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Handwritten latter. Elizabeth Kortright Monroe to Richard Smith Note, 1815
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe to Richard Smith Note, 1815. Mrs. James Monroe requests Mr. Richard Smith to send by bearer Tom one hundred dollars to the account of Mr. Monroe, January 21, 1815. Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.

The World of James Monroe Online (WMJO) assembly of documents brings together materials from three Virginia-based institutions: William & Mary, the University of Virginia, and the University of Mary Washington to date.

WJMO complements the editorial work of the Papers of James Monroe (PJM) at the University of Mary Washington. The Papers of James Monroe includes selected letters with editorial annotation. The digital and print versions are in active production at the University of Mary Washington, with a total of ten print volumes expected. Print volumes are published by Bloomsbury, and a digital version is offered by subscription at Rotunda, a digital imprint of the University of Virginia. The World of James Monroe Online complements PJM by expanding the scope of available materials to encompass complete institutional collections. It will also make visible aspects of Monroe’s personal, economic, and social life that may fall outside the bounds of the curated print volumes, whose content is mirrored in the digital access through Rotunda.

William & Mary's James Monroe Project

William & Mary's collection consists of over 300 manuscripts, chiefly correspondence, written and received by James Monroe (1758-1831) and his family. The project brings together Monroe materials from six distinct collections held by William & Mary Libraries Special Collections Research Center.

The materials include the correspondence of James Monroe during his many years of public service, an exchange between Monroe and his nephew James Monroe (1799-1840) at West Point, letters to US Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford, and correspondence between James Monroe’s daughter, Eliza Kortright Monroe Hay (1787-1840), and Hay’s daughter, Hortensia M. Rogers.

The University of Virginia Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

The University of Virginia Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library provides access to Monroe-related papers and letters with friends, family, and politicians about foreign relations, politics, the War of 1812, and personal and family affairs in the James Monroe Papers (1778-1831). Manuscripts from several other collections complete a set of nearly 300 documents about Monroe’s political and personal affairs.

University of Mary Washington's Papers of James Monroe

The Papers of James Monroe is a documentary editing project based at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  The goal of the project is to publish a scholarly ten-volume collection of selected letters and papers documenting the life and career of the fifth president of the United States. Volumes published to date feature Monroe’s earliest documented correspondence, including items written from Valley Forge during the winter of 1777, and continue through his service as Secretary of State and War in 1814. The Papers project is administratively linked to UMW’s James Monroe Museum, which maintains an archive of over 600 documents pertaining to Monroe and related subjects. 

The Papers of James Monroe: Digital Edition provides access to a wide selection of original material, inviting a fresh assessment of this important figure and his legacy. This digital edition is now available by subscription through Rotunda, at the University of Virginia. The digital format includes the complete contents of the seven volumes in print to date. Three additional volumes will follow.