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A Ninety Day War?
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The small United States Army could be enlarged quickly only by appealing to the states to activate local militia troops...
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Affidavit, 1693
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This affidavit informs the governor that Frank, a man of African descent enslaved by Henry Gibbs, has been jailed on...
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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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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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Céloron Plate
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One of the most important artifacts to survive from Virginia’s colonial period, this lead plaque was placed at the...
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Confederate Imprints
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Before secession, most of the established publishers of booking, broadsides, and sheet music were located in such large...
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Confederate Love Poems
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The most prominent Civil War poetry is poetry of the battlefield.
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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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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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How Did Civilians Suffer?
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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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Enslaved and free black people provided even more labor than usual for Virginia farms when 89 percent of eligible white...
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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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Liberated Books
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During the Civil War, looting by soldiers was a common practice. The hungry soldier usually confiscated food and...
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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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Men of Color To Arms?
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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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Offense or Defense?
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To win the war, United States troops needed to invade and control an unfriendly South and subdue Confederate armies.