This comes via Journalismo, via 43 Folders:

“Among his collection of pocket-sized devices were scales, drawing instruments, a thermometer, a surveying compass, a level, and even a globe. To record all these measurements, Jefferson carried a small ivory notebook (pictured) on which he could write in pencil. Back in his Cabinet, or office, he later copied the information into any of seven books in which he kept records about his garden, farms, finances, and other concerns; he then erased the writing in the ivory notebook.”

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I really thought I read somewhere that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence using a pencil and then went over it in ink, but I cannot find anything to prove this one way or the other. Does anyone know anything about this?

[Photo copyright Monticello(?).]