The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
Article
Elizabeth Keckley
Image
Born a slave in Dinwiddie County, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) purchased her freedom in 1855 and supported...
Article
Fore-edge Painting
Image
Rarely are books prized as objects of art; often the content of the text, or the plates accompanying the text, are...
Article
Freedmen's Schools
Image
In the antebellum South, African Americans were generally prevented from receiving education. After Appomattox...
Article
Glee Clubs
Image
The VMHC has several glee club items in its collection. The earliest item, an 1848 broadside entitled “Rally Whigs”...
Article
Indian Tribes of North America
Image
In the museum's rare book collection, a remarkable compilation of images exists in History of the Indian Tribes of North...
Article
Jefferson’s Desk
Image
There are many reproductions of the desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Some have even...
Article
Let Us Commence: Graduating At A Distance
Image
Learn about the history of commencement ceremonies and traditions in Virginia.
Article
Letterhead
Image
Correspondence between individuals plays an important role in our understanding not only of how people communicated in...
Article
Mark Catesby
Image
The first accounts of the strange flora and fauna of the New World created a great demand among European scientists for...
Article
Murals Inspired by the Story of Virginia
Image
Richmond is now home to more than 100 outdoor murals, and this popular form of artwork reflects the city’s modernity and...
Article
Olaudah Equiano
Image
Snatched from his Ibo village in Nigeria at the age of eleven, Equiano (c. 1745-1797) was transported to Barbados...
Article
On Dueling
Image
In the United States and elsewhere, traditional and patriarchal conceptions of honor prescribed that men could respond...
Article
Oysters in Virginia
Image
Learn about the history of oyster in Virginia's food culture, tourism, and economy.
Article
Shaving Kits
Image
Before the invention of the disposable double-edged safety razor in 1895, a straight razor was the easiest, most...
Article
Silver in Virginia
Image
Colonial Virginians acquired much of their important silver from London. After the Revolution, population growth, a...
Article
The Brook Hill Collection
Image
In 2018, the VMHC was gifted an extraordinary collection of books, documents, and art associated with the Stewart and...
Article
The College of William and Mary
Image
The town developed around the college in the early eighteenth century once the General Assembly moved the seat of the...
Article
The History of Virginia's Natural Bridge: "So Beautiful an Arch"
Image
In the late eighteenth century, when Thomas Jefferson “discovered” Natural Bridge and purchased it from the King of...
Article
The Honor of Membership
Image
The governing body of the museum has elected close to 200 honorary members in its 175-year history. The long list...
Article
The Media General Papers and Thomas Jefferson's Letters
Image
Richmond-based Media General and its predecessors were led and grown by four generations of the Bryan family.