The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
Secrets & Symbols: Desk by John Shearer
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/qVBIakvYkzVm_SjvAOrjz7uQC4Ub1DVsMbDbDLUeNVQ.jpg)
Desk, 1817
John Shearer (about 1760–after 1818)
VMHC Collection, Gift of The Children of Louis and Harriett Waldrop
John Shearer, a Scottish immigrant...
Secrets & Symbols: Temperance Quilt
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/xAo_jQgKvukypSI3fNFEljr5rpnQ7SGhBPO0bgwhm8M.jpg)
Quilt, about 1890–1900
Rena Effinger Coyner Koiner (1869–1949)
Cotton fabrics
VMHC Collection, Gift of Dennis and Kay Stockdale
Rena Koiner, the maker of...
Secrets & Symbols: Teresa Blount Portrait
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/EtK2e7gNbI5sy1nbenwtPVUFMqkZG7BHb_ExG2ercXE.jpg)
Portrait of Teresa Blount, about 1710–20s
Unknown artist
VMHC Collection
Traditionally, portraits contain clues to a sitter’s social identity. This...
Secrets & Symbols: "Crown of Thorns" Chest of Drawers
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/NRzeatuaSP6ff0RzgEeJ6AsbIdq1DHu4FQcUYKAYup4.jpg)
“Crown of Thorns” chest of drawers, late 1800s
Unknown maker
VMHC Collection
So-called tramp art was popular across the U.S. from the 1870s to the 1930s...
Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery—Where War Comes Home
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/m6_Dge-VOPX_t6bV2tue-jdmJXYnFdYG7TUNWWGx3Yg.jpg)
On January 22 at noon, Robert M. Poole delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery—Where War Comes Home."
Writer and...
She Can Bring Us Home: Dr. Dorothy Boulding Ferebee, Civil Rights Pioneer
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/_qZ64ks_fm6iOmJjX0fvcTX5zcqndAeQz4qV5BILst0.jpg)
On August 20, 2015, Diane Kiesel delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "She Can Bring Us Home: Dr. Dorothy Boulding Ferebee, Civil Rights Pioneer."
At...
Shockoe Hill Cemetery: A Richmond Landmark's History
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/BdpEGpEhrwQk2N1hU9SgTpoMGrBumzARBnoqT8FsYAs.jpg)
On December 7, 2017, Alyson Lindsey Taylor-White delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “Shockoe Hill Cemetery: A Richmond Landmark's History.”
I...
"Shockoe Valley Topography and the Slave Trade" By Jeffrey Ruggles
![](/sites/default/files/soundcloud/fb_placeholder.png)
On Saturday, February 28, 2009, the community was invited to attend a conference about Richmond’s African American history, “Hidden Things Brought to...
Sites and Stories: African American History in Virginia
![](/sites/default/files/soundcloud/fb_placeholder.png)
On February 14, 2008, Lauranett Lee spoke about “Sites and Stories: African American History in Virginia.”
Historic highway markers are beloved...
Slave Auction Painting: Analyzing Primary Sources
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/wPOIpBkvqb5uab7-SnO5xPYCFobQkWee5MMj4MSz1K4.jpg)
In this video, a VMHC Educator analyzes the painting Slave Auction, Virginia, by LeFevre Cranstone.
So Ends This Day: An Illustrated Update on the Life and Times of the Monitor, from 1861 to yesterday By Anna Holloway
![](/sites/default/files/soundcloud/fb_placeholder.png)
Although the Union ironclad Monitor may have ended her working career in a gale off Cape Hatteras in December 1862, her story does not end there...
Soul Liberty: The Evolution of Black Religious Politics in Postemancipation
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/fNODbucM4CbdjtxA9rGoOhUyh68LS13k3DoDIdGCDEY.jpg)
That churches are one of the most important cornerstones of black political organization is a commonplace. In her new history of African American...
Spitfire: An American WWII Fighter Pilot in the RAF
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/RTlrjGUFcqw1qMdWQ2GpPAknRICKxAzvzkGLq8X8Ptc.jpg)
On May 25, 2023, Preston Smith gave a fascinating lecture about his father’s service as the last U.S. pilot accepted into the ranks of the RAF during...
Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/L7AL5tF_v8nrK9vMISufPZc9SF0Qxm_CYZUqhtX0XwY.jpg)
According to the ballad that made him famous, John Henry did battle with a steam-powered drill, beat the machine, and died. Folklorists have long...
Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/EWvH2k7qMTttZKLHukIU_CFRnnoT0JJCWjT6dUNZh44.jpg)
On May 9, 2018, Dr. Paul Finkelman and Dr. Edward L. Ayers engaged in a conversation about Dr. Finkelman’s latest book, “Supreme Injustice: Slavery in...
Surviving Southampton: Finding Women in Nat Turner’s Community
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/4aE_rIGOsVAQaOL0CRnPH6itRpw_jW7TMTyvpNfhVqw.jpg)
On June 24, 2021, historian Vanessa Holden delivered a Banner Lecture about her new book about how women contributed to America’s most famous slave...
Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor (Christian Lecture 2017)
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/M4AuluuM7pSPoyrzk4FSVUwjTBf8snEGAT3T0WRrM9Y.jpg)
On April 19, 2017, James M. Scott delivered the Stuart G. Christian, Jr. Lecture entitled, “Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged...
Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/oCKtfUQ7nP1Cx2Ec3PdzeB2BBoyfuHVamHBfdScjPg8.jpg)
On Thursday, May 6, 2010, the VMHC held its annual Stuart G. Christian, Jr., Lecture in the Robins Family Forum. Elizabeth and Michael Norman...
Telling Our Stories: School Desegregation in Western Virginia by Theodore C. DeLaney
![](/sites/default/files/soundcloud/fb_placeholder.png)
On February 22, 2007, Dr. DeLaney delivered this Banner Lecture at the VHS. In 1954 the Supreme Court held in Brown v. Board of Education that...
The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/gYRKgXhiMEBWZvT_VPxrIu9J3PNn9FFLMlkAIisz9m0.jpg)
On September 27, 2018, William I. Hitchcock delivered a banner lecture,“The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s.”
Once thought to...