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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Abolitionist Pitcher
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Learn about how this pitcher based on Uncle Tom's Cabin was used as propoganda in the mid-1800s.
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Advice and Etiquette Books
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Studying etiquette books offers researchers a glimpse of how people interacted and how they adapted to their changing...
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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.
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Dugout Canoe
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The dugout canoe was an Indian concept but one so well suited to the Virginia rivers that Europeans and Africans also...
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Elizabeth Keckley
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Born a slave in Dinwiddie County, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) purchased her freedom in 1855 and supported...
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Fore-edge Painting
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Rarely are books prized as objects of art; often the content of the text, or the plates accompanying the text, are...
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Freedmen's Schools
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In the antebellum South, African Americans were generally prevented from receiving education. After Appomattox...
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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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Letterhead
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Correspondence between individuals plays an important role in our understanding not only of how people communicated in...
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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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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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The Honor of Membership
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The governing body of the museum has elected close to 200 honorary members in its 175-year history. The long list...
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The Regions of Virginia
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The geography of Virginia has shaped both the history and economy of the state.
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The Resurrection of Henry "Box" Brown
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Learn about Henry "Box" Brown and one of the most memorable escapes from enslavement.
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Thomas Sully's Portrait of Pocahontas
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Learn about the life of Pocahontas.
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Transportation in Virginia
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Transportation began to change early in the nineteenth century with the introduction of steam power and the development...