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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Henkel Press
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In 1806, two young men, Ambrose Henkel and his brother Solomon, started one of the first German language presses in the...
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How Did Civilians Suffer?
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White women and children were left to fend for themselves, and many became widows and orphans when one in five...
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How Did Enslaved People Support the Confederacy?
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Enslaved and free black people provided even more labor than usual for Virginia farms when 89 percent of eligible white...
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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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Liberated Books
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During the Civil War, looting by soldiers was a common practice. The hungry soldier usually confiscated food and...
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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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Men of Color To Arms?
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When the war began, many black Americans—North and South—volunteered to serve as soldiers. United by a belief in black...
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Offense or Defense?
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To win the war, United States troops needed to invade and control an unfriendly South and subdue Confederate armies.
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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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Robert Edward Lee
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Robert Edward Lee (1807–1870) was born at Stratford in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1807, the son of Revolutionary...
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Robert Knox Sneden's Dispatch Case
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Learn about the dispatch case of Civil War artist and mapmaker Robert Knox Sneden that was acquired in 2017 by the...
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Speed or Strength?
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Early in 1862, Confederate general Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson decided to “move swiftly and strike vigorously” against...