The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
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Abolitionist Pitcher
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Learn about how this pitcher based on Uncle Tom's Cabin was used as propoganda in the mid-1800s.
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Affidavit, 1693
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This affidavit informs the governor that Frank, a man of African descent enslaved by Henry Gibbs, has been jailed on...
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Arthur Ashe Jr.’s Family Tree: Tracing the Blackwell Family to 1735
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See a rare family tree, drawn by hand on canvas, tracing Arthur Ashe, Jr.’s family.
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Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia in the years 1675 & 1676
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Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia was the first popular uprising in the American colonies. It was long viewed as an early...
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Booker T. Washington
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Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) was born enslaved on April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Virginia. After emancipation...
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Brochure, Remember May 17th
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Learn the importance of May 17th in history.
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Céloron Plate
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One of the most important artifacts to survive from Virginia’s colonial period, this lead plaque was placed at the...
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Colonial Cookbooks
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Food and dining were integral to social life in the eighteenth century, particularly among the upper class. The gentry...
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Connecticut sculpture
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Records of the Best Products Company provide interesting insights into the history of this iconic sculpture.
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Cookbooks (Advertising)
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By the twentieth century, there was a tremendous burst of interest in cooking as a variety of new processed foods became...
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Duke Ellington at the Mosque
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Late in his career, jazz great Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899–1974) composed three "Sacred Concerts," longer...
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Education in Virginia
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The Virginia Constitution of 1869, passed during Reconstruction, established a statewide system of free public schools...
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Elizabeth Keckley
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Born a slave in Dinwiddie County, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) purchased her freedom in 1855 and supported...
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Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity poster
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The Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity promoted understanding among groups during the tensions of the civil...
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Equal Suffrage League of Virginia
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Learn about how the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia helped women gain the right to vote.
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Freedmen's Schools
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In the antebellum South, African Americans were generally prevented from receiving education. After Appomattox...
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Indian Tribes of North America
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In the museum's rare book collection, a remarkable compilation of images exists in History of the Indian Tribes of North...
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Jim Crow to Civil Rights in Virginia
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Following the Civil War, black Virginians struggled to assert their independence and make freedom meaningful. In the...
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L. Douglas Wilder
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Learn about L. Douglas Wilder, the first elected African American governor in United States history.
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Maggie Lena Walker
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Maggie Lena Walker (1864–1934) was the daughter of Elizabeth Draper, a former kitchen slave and then cook in the Civil...