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Article
Arming the Commonwealth
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From providing protection from enemy combatants to finding dinner for a family, weapons have played a significant role...
Article
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.
Article
Audubon's Viviparous Quadrapeds
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Following the success of his Birds of America, John James Audubon began to gather material for an equally ambitious...
Media
Before It Was Virginia: Setting the Stage
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On March 16, 2012, Helen C. Rountree delivered a lecture entitled "Before It Was Virginia: Setting the Stage."
When English settlers arrived here 400...
Article Set - Chapter
Before the War
Born into a Virginia family whose members had for generations assumed public leadership roles, Robert E. Lee followed the
Article
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...
Article
Bookplates
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The use of bookplates is almost as old as printing itself. They were used to record ownership and to reassure the owner...
Media
Bound to the Fire: How Virginia’s Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine
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In grocery store aisles and kitchens across the country, smiling images of “Aunt Jemima” and other historical and fictional black cooks can be found...
Article
Broadsides
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Broadsides, or broadsheets, are items printed on one side of a sheet of paper and generally posted or distributed as...
Article Set - Chapter
Byrd Family
A man driven by enormous ambition, William Byrd II of Westover was an exceptional figure in colonial America. Educated in
Article
Captain John Smith
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John Smith (baptized 1580 –1631), an English soldier, author, and adventurer, played a crucial role in establishing the...
Time Period Chapter
Causes of the Revolution
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After 1763, Great Britain underestimated the economic and political maturity of the Americans
Article
Children's Manuscripts
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Prominent Virginians are well represented in the many manuscripts housed at the VMHC. However, documents by individuals...
Article
Christmas Cards
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Christmas cards are ephemeral, and this essence is the very reason they can be of interest to researchers. Scholars...
Article
Clementina Rind
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Clementina Rind was Virginia’s first female printer and newspaper publisher, publishing important official documents for...
Article
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...
Article Set - Chapter
Conclusion
Throughout the twentieth century and during the past decade, apologists for John Brown have turned out imagery and
Article Set - Chapter
Conclusion - Did the Civil War End at Appomattox?
Lee’s army had become the embodiment of Confederate nationalism, and after its surrender other southern forces soon gave up
Time Period Chapter
Contact and Conflict
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The first settlers were welcomed by the Indians with ceremony. However, following Capt. John Smith’s return to England...
Article Set - Chapter
Copies and Adaptations of de Bry
For more than two centuries, the 1590 engravings of Virginia Indians by de Bry and van Veen were copied for other