The Bodleian Plate is so-named for its discovery in the archives of the
Bodleian Library at the
University of Oxford in
England. The copperplate was bequeathed to the library as part of the collection of
Richard Rawlinson, a
nonjuring Church of England clergyman and
antiquarian who died in April 1755. His donation to the library totaled over one million books, manuscripts, and engravings–all of which had been originally willed to the
Society of Antiquaries before a falling-out. Efforts to rebuild the Wren Building to its colonial appearance began in 1928 as part of John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s broader efforts to restore Williamsburg. The project had been in part the brainchild of
W.A.R. Goodwin, the
Episcopal rector of
Bruton Parish. In December 1929, the researcher Mary F. Goodwin located and recognized the Bodleian Plate as depicting
colonial-era Williamsburg, Virginia. The discovery proved instrumental in the reconstruction of the Wren Building–for which no other complete colonial depiction of the western side existed. Prior to the discovery of the plate, much of what renovation was planned came from descriptions written by
Thomas Jefferson, an
alumnus of the college. It also helped in the reconstruction of all four other structures depicted, particularly the Governor's Palace and its outbuildings. ==References==