The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
Time Period
16,000 BCE to 1622 CE
Image
At the time of the great northern glaciers, Native Americans followed the game they hunted to Virginia. Ten thousand years later, as the cold of the Ice Age gave way to a warmer, drier climate, they relied also on foraging and farming. After about 900 CE they settled into villages that united into chiefdoms. In 1607, in pursuit of opportunity in a new world, English settlers intruded into an eastern Virginia chiefdom of thirty-two tribes (15,000 to 20,000 people). Its leader then was Wahunsenacawh, whom the new settlers called by his title, Powhatan.
Time Period
1764 to 1824
Image
British taxation—introduced to pay for a British military presence in America—was unexpected by the Virginia gentry and resented. Those Americans began to view British policy as a plot against their liberty. They played leading roles in the Continental Congresses that debated independence, in the fighting of the American Revolution, and in the conception and implementation of a new government. Virginia also provided four of the new nation’s first five presidents. Virginia leaders advocated equality for all but they never considered extending it to women and African Americans.
Time Period Chapter
Causes of the Revolution
Image
After 1763, Great Britain underestimated the economic and political maturity of the Americans
Time Period Chapter
Contact and Conflict
Image
The first settlers were welcomed by the Indians with ceremony. However, following Capt. John Smith’s return to England...
Exhibition
Determined
Image
This exhibition examined the long history of black Americans in North America as they have fought for freedom, equal...
Article Set - Intro
Early Images of Virginia Indians: The William W. Cole Collection
Image
Explore engravings and illustration of early Virginia Indians.
Time Period Chapter
Establishing a Nation
Image
Three of Virginia’s Revolutionary era leaders played critical roles in the successful establishment of the nation’s...
Time Period Chapter
Exploration of the New World
Image
Initially, European nations were searching for a water route to the Far East, not a New World.
Exhibition
Founding Frenemies
Image
This exhibition explored Alexander Hamilton’s relationships with the founding generation of Virginians through rare...
Article Set - Intro
Getting the Message Out: Presidential Campaign Memorabilia from the Collection of Allen A. Frey
Image
Buttons and banners, ribbons and posters, coffee mugs and whiskey flasks, match books and mouse pads. For nearly 200 years, presidential candidates and their supporters have used almost every means available to attract votes.
Article Set - Intro
Great things are expected from the Virginians
Image
Capt. John Chilton of the 3rd Virginia Infantry described his experiences in New York and New Jersey in 1776–77 in letters home to family and friends. Located in the society's manuscripts collection, Chilton's letters offer a fascinating glimpse of one Virginian's thoughts and experiences during a pivotal time in the Revolutionary War.
Exhibition
John Marshall
Image
Highlighting objects like his Law Commonplace Notebook, spectacles and inkwell, writing desk, and even his hair, this...
Exhibition
Oh, Shenandoah
Image
Time Period Chapter
The Revolutionary Era in Virginia
Image
Virginia—the largest and most populous colony—played a major role in winning independence and determining the values and...
Article Set - Intro
Virginia's Colonial Dynasties
Image
In the colonial period, portraiture proved to be a particularly useful tool in establishing and preserving family status. This exhibit presents twenty-four portraits from the Virginia Historical Society's collection. Early Virginia portraits reveal much about the families that commissioned them, as well as how these Virginians valued how they were perceived by others.
Time Period Chapter
Wandering, Foraging, and Farming
Image
Over more than 16,000 years, Indians in Virginia transitioned from nomadic bands of hunter gatherers to sedentary...