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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Fore-edge Painting
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Rarely are books prized as objects of art; often the content of the text, or the plates accompanying the text, are...
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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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Life Portrait of Pocahontas
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The only life portrait of Pocahontas (1595–1617) and the only credible image of her, was engraved by Simon Van de Passe...
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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...
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Mary-Cooke Branch Munford
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Learn how Mary-Cooke Branch Munford helped improve education in Virginia.
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Olaudah Equiano
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Snatched from his Ibo village in Nigeria at the age of eleven, Equiano (c. 1745-1797) was transported to Barbados...
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Oysters in Virginia
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Learn about the history of oyster in Virginia's food culture, tourism, and economy.
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Proud American Day program
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Learn about the beginning of Black History Month.
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Richmond in the Midst of the Civil War
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As the Confederate capital, Richmond experienced waves of change that saw the city lurch from the untidy influx of...
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Robert E. Lee after the War
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After the Civil War, Robert E. Lee left his life in the military and accepted the position of president of Washington...
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Silver in Virginia
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Colonial Virginians acquired much of their important silver from London. After the Revolution, population growth, a...
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The Abduction of Pocahontas
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Learn about the abduction of Pocahontas in 1613.
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The College of William and Mary
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The town developed around the college in the early eighteenth century once the General Assembly moved the seat of the...
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The Honor of Membership
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The governing body of the museum has elected close to 200 honorary members in its 175-year history. The long list...
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The Resurrection of Henry "Box" Brown
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Learn about Henry "Box" Brown and one of the most memorable escapes from enslavement.
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Thomas Sully's Portrait of Pocahontas
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Learn about the life of Pocahontas.
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Tom Molineaux
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Born into enslavement on a Virginia plantation, Tom Molineaux (1784–1818) fought fellow enslaved people while plantation...