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| While completing her master's thesis at OU, Merry Ellen Scofield was interested to find Thomas Jefferson's flair for politicking at parties. Now, she spends her days working on with the correspondence and papers written and received by the author of the Declaration of Independence. |
by John Turk
Take a moment and list what can be said about Thomas Jefferson – easy things first. He authored the Declaration of Independence, was America’s third president … and was also an entertainer extraordinaire?
Oddly enough, yes. Merry Ellen Scofield, Ph.D., CAS ’02, landed her dream job, thanks in part to a master’s thesis at Oakland University based on that fact – the Founding Father’s use of parties for politicking.
“He was very low key, very behind the scenes, and this was his way of influencing people,” says Dr. Scofield, 65, assistant editor on the Jefferson Papers project at Princeton University. “I love the dinner records, and it’s amazing what you can learn from looking through them. They have done me well.”
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson project began in 1943 at New Jersey-based Princeton, with help from a major gift from the New York Times Company, and following a congressional mandate, to be an authoritative voice on all correspondence written to or by Jefferson. Scofield, also known as Melly, is one of a team of eight working with the documents.
A Michigander by way of Indiana, Dr. Scofield came to Oakland University after earning a Master of Arts degree in elementary education from Northern Michigan University, and in the midst of a 19-year career teaching middle school history in White Lake, Mich.
Todd Estes, Ph.D., Oakland University History Department chair, helped Dr. Scofield dive into the discipline, she says. Dr. Scofield eventually found charm in learning about Jefferson’s social life, completed her thesis and then moved on to earn a doctoral degree in history from Wayne State University.
Dr. Estes says it’s safe to say Dr. Scofield is a highly respected scholar on Thomas Jefferson’s presidency and, in particular, his White House dinners. Hers is also a classic Oakland University story, he explains.
“Really good people come here, and sometimes they don’t know how much talent they have. But once they get some guidance, they begin to glimpse that,” says Dr. Estes. “Melly wasn’t quite sure, and it took a while to find her feet. But man, once she did, she just took off.”
Dr. Scofield’s resume glimmers. Her work has been published in several historical journals, and she wrote a chapter in the upcoming book, Wiley-Blackwell Companion to First Ladies. Upon her graduation from Wayne, a Jefferson Papers editing job opened. She remembers how taken aback she was when she learned she landed an interview.
| Presidential Ties: Scofield's dream job isn't the only tie Oakland University has to the the nation's presidents. Kresge Library is home to 50 pens LBJ used to sign ‘Great Society’ laws. And in 2014, President Barack Obama honored OU alum and special instructor Brian Peterson. |
“I couldn’t believe it,” she explains. “I was up for a job where I’d be doing what I did in my free time.”
Now that she’s landed the position, Dr. Scofield often stays late, poring over documents – even Jefferson’s barber bill – verifying transcriptions and annotating the texts. All aspects of the work entail a heavy amount of research and fact-checking.
And she hasn’t forgotten Oakland University. “That first day I walked into class with Todd Estes was the beginning of a trail that has led me to Princeton. There’s a smile on my face every day.”
