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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Elizabeth Keckley
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![Engraving of Elizabeth Keckley Engraving of Elizabeth Keckley](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/ElizabethKeckley_E457.15.K26.frontispiece_cropped_0_medium.jpg.webp?itok=OtJS2wQL)
Born a slave in Dinwiddie County, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) purchased her freedom in 1855 and supported...
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Founding Frenemies: Hamilton and The Virginians
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![Founding Frenemies Note issued by the National Bank in 1793](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/FoundingFrenemies_P6_Hamilton_BankNote_CMYK.jpeg.webp?itok=zH3BK0Gb)
This exhibition examined how critically important relationships between Alexander Hamilton and three Virginians shaped...
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Freedmen's Schools
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![VHE_Freedmen_Harpers Weekley cropped.jpg VHE_Freedmen_Harpers Weekley cropped.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_Freedmen_Harpers%20Weekley%20cropped.jpg.webp?itok=TmJCMsl0)
In the antebellum South, African Americans were generally prevented from receiving education. After Appomattox...
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George Washington Portrait by Charles Peale Polk
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![VHE_GeorgeWashington.1905.10_teaser.jpg VHE_GeorgeWashington.1905.10_teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_GeorgeWashington.1905.10_teaser.jpg.webp?itok=zW_zU62S)
This depiction of George Washington (1732–1799) as commander of the Continental army was painted in the 1790s by Charles...
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Glee Clubs
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The VMHC has several glee club items in its collection. The earliest item, an 1848 broadside entitled “Rally Whigs”...
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Grace Sherwood: The "Witch of Pungo"
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![sherwoodtrial.jpg sherwoodtrial.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/sherwoodtrial.jpg.webp?itok=Ufkjl5Om)
On July 10, 1706, a forty-six-year-old Princess Anne County woman named Grace Sherwood faced an unusual legal procedure...
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How Did Civilians Suffer?
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![How Did Civilians Suffer? A drawing of the flight of the refugees](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/HowDidCiviliansSuffer_VHE_ATP_FamilyofVirginians.2000.165.3.jpeg.webp?itok=SDtHN186)
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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![How Did Slaves Support the Confederacy? The Burial of Latane by A.G. Campbell](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/HowDidSlavesSupportTheConfederacy_VHE_ATP_BurialofLatane.2010.1.jpeg.webp?itok=_ImXE1TN)
Enslaved and free black people provided even more labor than usual for Virginia farms when 89 percent of eligible white...
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James Jones Archive (1870s-1960s)
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With a coat of faded red paint and a crude hand-forged hasp to secure its lid, the simple pine chest – once used to...
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Juneteenth
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![Juneteenth Flag Juneteenth Flag](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/PopCiv_Juneteenth_Flag.png.webp?itok=zFWtlf45)
Pop Civ is a series developed by the John Marshall Center for Constitutional History & Civics at the VMHC. By connecting...
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Let Us Commence: Graduating At A Distance
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![Let Us Commence: Graduating At A Distance Samantha Hukeless’s diploma from Van de Vyver Institute.](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/LetUsCommence_Screen%20Shot%202020-05-19%20at%2012.53.58%20PM.jpeg.webp?itok=MbIdG0xM)
Learn about the history of commencement ceremonies and traditions in Virginia.
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Life Portrait of Pocahontas
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![VHE_PocahontasEngraving_Teaser.jpg VHE_PocahontasEngraving_Teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_PocahontasEngraving_Teaser.jpg.webp?itok=weL_dH2x)
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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Love and War
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![](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/LoveAndWar_mss1-n3381a34_front.jpeg.webp?itok=1qwfgOv_)
Though it has torn many asunder, war has also brought people together.
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Maggie Lena Walker
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![VHE_MaggieLWalker_Teaser.jpg VHE_MaggieLWalker_Teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_MaggieLWalker_Teaser.jpg.webp?itok=LGIwISLy)
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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Martha (Dandridge) Custis Washington
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![VHE_MarthaWashington.1857.3_teaser.jpg VHE_MarthaWashington.1857.3_teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_MarthaWashington.1857.3_teaser.jpg.webp?itok=MvRERM1q)
This portrait of Martha Washington (1731–1802) is the work of Charles Willson Peale, who also painted the sitter several...
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Mary-Cooke Branch Munford
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![VHE_MaryMunford_Teaser.jpg VHE_MaryMunford_Teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_MaryMunford_Teaser.jpg.webp?itok=uoJNDhBf)
Learn how Mary-Cooke Branch Munford helped improve education in Virginia.
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Men of Color To Arms?
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![Gold Soldier Identification Disc Gold Soldier Identification Disc](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Men%20of%20Color%20To%20Arms_VHE_ATP_TurnerIDdisk.PHP_.verso_silhouette.jpg.webp?itok=-Gmic8kn)
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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Murals Inspired by the Story of Virginia
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![Still Relevant by Ed Trask Ed Trask paints a mural of flowers](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/FreshPaint_StillRelevant_DSC0887_e1%20copy.jpg.webp?itok=vx9S_GnP)
Richmond is now home to more than 100 outdoor murals, and this popular form of artwork reflects the city’s modernity and...
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Offense or Defense?
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![Offense or Defense? Captain William T. Haskell's Sash](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/OffenseOrDefense_VHE_ATP_sash.jpeg.webp?itok=Om7UC6ko)
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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![VHE_OlaudahEquiano_Teaser.jpg VHE_OlaudahEquiano_Teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_OlaudahEquiano_Teaser.jpg.webp?itok=pUL5Qd1M)
Snatched from his Ibo village in Nigeria at the age of eleven, Equiano (c. 1745-1797) was transported to Barbados...