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Explore Time Periods

Learn about 16,000 years of Virginia history through collections objects, historical articles, video, and our interactive timeline.

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10.13.20 Student Webinar - John Smith's Map.jpg

Explore Time Periods

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16,000 BCE to 1622 CE
A Land of Opportunity: Creating Virginia
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1623 to 1763
A Distant Dominion
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1764 to 1824
From British Colony to American State
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1825 to 1860
Challenge of a New Century
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1861 to 1876
Civil War and Reconstruction
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1877 to 1924
Virginia in the New South
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1925 to Today
Dynamic Dominion

Collections Spotlight

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An illustration of a three-story white building in the midst of tall trees

Across Time: Robinson House, Its Land and People

Project curator and author Elizabeth O’Leary shares the multilayered story of this unique architectural structure over centuries, including its individual inhabitants and significant history, science, and art institutions.

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A collage of historical photographs of women

Four Centuries of Virginia Women's History

Historian Cynthia A. Kierner explores the impacts of Virginia women as historical actors and how what we’ve learned about their experiences can transform our understanding of Virginia's ever-evolving story.

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An illustration of a person wearing a fur headdress and holding a bow and arrow

Native Southerners: The Indigenous People Who Made and Remade the South

Historian Gregory D. Smithers brings the world of Native southerners to life in this sweeping narrative of American Indian history in the Southeast from the time before European colonialism to the Trail of Tears and beyond.

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May

This Month in History

All Months
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9th G7 Summit is held in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Featured Collections Items

The VMHC has a collection of more than 9 million items. Here are just a few them (please note that not all of them may be on display to the public). Search the Library or Museum Objects Collections databases to learn more. 

Library Catalog
Museum Objects Catalog
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Tennis raquet, sports bag and shoes - belonged to Arthur Ashe

Tennis Items, Arthur Ashe

Tennis racquet,bag, and wrist band, all belonged to Arthur Ashe.
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pastel drawing of Natural Bridge in snow

Drawing, Natural Bridge

Pastel drawing depicting Natural Bridge in Snow  by George Brewerton in 1872.
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Oil painting of George Washington in uniform

Painting, George Washington

Portrait in oils of George Washington by Charles Peale Polk, nephew of Charles Willson Peale, whose 1787 portrait of the general was the basis for this image. 
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Bowie knife and sheath. Clip-point steel blade. he knife bears the following mark on left side of blade: "G WOSTENHOLM & SON / WASHINGTON WORKS / SHEFFIELD" (at left) and "THE REAL I XL KNIFE / THE HUNTERS COMPANION" (at right). The text of "THE REAL / I XL / KNIFE" is split between three small ribands. The knife also bears the following mark at the left ricasso: "I*XL".

Bowie Knife

Bowie knife taken from John Brown at Harper's Ferry in 1859 by J.E.B. Stuart.
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Desk, slant-front. Eastern Virginia, probably Richmond, based on Williamsburg prototype. Chippendale slant-front desk with bracket feet.

Desk circa 1780-1805

Chippenale slant-front desk with bracket feet, Eastern Virginia, probably Richmond, based on Williamsburg prototype. 
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US Navy WAVE uniform. Navy blue jacket with gold buttons and anchor emblem on collar

U.S. Navy WAVES Uniform

Complete WAVES uniform from World War II worn by Nancy E. Bailey (Bon Cogsdale).
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Black and white photograph of women gathered in Capitol Square holding large banners which read "Equal Suffrage League and Richmond, Virginia" and "Votes for Women." Many otes for Women."

Equal Suffrage League of Richmond Photograph

1915 Photograph show a group of women gathered in Capitol Square holding large banners which read "Equal Suffrage League and Richmond, Virginia" and "Votes for Women." 
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Black and white photograph of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and five signatures (clockwise from top right): Martin L. King, Jr.; Wyatt Tee Walker; Ralph Abernathy; Virgil A. Wood; Curtis W. Harris.

Program, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1962

Program from the Virginia State Unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference meeting, includes a black and white photograph of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and five signatures (clockwise from
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Silver gelatin photographic print. Framed. Image depicts Norfolk and Western Train No. 3, the Pocahontas, in a shroud of exhaust with 13 cars of Christmas mail and passengers.

Photographic print, No. 3, Pocahontas [train], barrels by Shawsville on its night run to Cincinnati, 1955

Image depicting Norfolk and Western Train No. 3, the Pocahontas, in a shroud of exhaust with 13 cars of Christmas mail and passengers.
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Tintype portrait of Robert Thaxton (d.1863), in uniform. Thaxton was a Confederate soldier killed at the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia.

Tintype Portrait of Robert Thaxton

Tintype portrait of Pvt. Robert Thaxton, a Confederate soldier killed at the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, in May 1863.
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Silver medal inscribed on obverse, " The King of" and on the reverse "Machotick," [Machodoc], with both sides engraved with flowers and cornucopia.

Medal, Indian Badge

A 1661 act of the Virginia General Assembly forced the Chief of the Machodoc—and all the leaders and warriors of Virginia’s Indegenous people-to wear these badges while in English settlements. 
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