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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Born a slave in Dinwiddie County, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) purchased her freedom in 1855 and supported...
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Ella Fitzgerald's False Eyelashes
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Legendary singer and Virginia native Ella Fitzgerald, dubbed “The First Lady of Song,” exhilarated audiences with her...
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Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity poster
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The Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity promoted understanding among groups during the tensions of the civil...
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Equal Suffrage League of Virginia
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Learn about how the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia helped women gain the right to vote.
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Founding Frenemies: Hamilton and The Virginians
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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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In the antebellum South, African Americans were generally prevented from receiving education. After Appomattox...
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Freedom Riders
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In 1961, a small group of white and black volunteers rode public buses into the South to demonstrate that interstate...
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George Washington Portrait by Charles Peale Polk
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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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How Did Enslaved People Support the Confederacy?
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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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Jefferson’s Desk
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There are many reproductions of the desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Some have even...
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Jim Crow to Civil Rights in Virginia
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Following the Civil War, black Virginians struggled to assert their independence and make freedom meaningful. In the...
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John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore
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John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore, was Virginia's last royal governor.
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Joy to the World: The Christmas Story by Visionary Painter Linda Bruton
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The depiction of events prior to, during, and following the birth of Christ has been a favorite topic among Western...
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Juneteenth
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Pop Civ is a series developed by the John Marshall Center for Constitutional History & Civics at the VMHC. By connecting...
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L. Douglas Wilder
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Learn about L. Douglas Wilder, the first elected African American governor in United States history.
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Maggie Lena Walker
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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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Mark Catesby
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The first accounts of the strange flora and fauna of the New World created a great demand among European scientists for...
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Martha (Dandridge) Custis Washington
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This portrait of Martha Washington (1731–1802) is the work of Charles Willson Peale, who also painted the sitter several...