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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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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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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...
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On Dueling
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In the United States and elsewhere, traditional and patriarchal conceptions of honor prescribed that men could respond...
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Oysters in Virginia
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![VHE_Oysters_OysterCan_Teaser.jpg VHE_Oysters_OysterCan_Teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_Oysters_OysterCan_Teaser.jpg.webp?itok=2BC7sR7V)
Learn about the history of oyster in Virginia's food culture, tourism, and economy.
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Patrick Henry Arguing the Parsons’ Cause
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![79295e56bc070b2a46410264f019e5ec.jpg 79295e56bc070b2a46410264f019e5ec.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/79295e56bc070b2a46410264f019e5ec.jpg.webp?itok=2gN652fQ)
The Parsons’ Cause was a legal conflict rooted in the volatility of the tobacco-based economy and the state-sponsored...
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Stamp Act Spoon, 1766
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![Stamp Act Spoon A spoon](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Stamp-Act-Spoon_stampactspoon-1972-12_front_0.jpg.webp?itok=FhfU0jgh)
In order to help fund the expense of defending its American colonies, Great Britain instituted a tax on printed paper...
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The History of Virginia's Natural Bridge: "So Beautiful an Arch"
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![The History of Virginia's Natural Bridge Hand-colored Lithograph of Natural Bridge](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/TheHistoryOfVirginia%27sNaturalBridge_VHC_SU21_NaturalBridge.199.161.jpeg.webp?itok=EUIe6WK1)
In the late eighteenth century, when Thomas Jefferson “discovered” Natural Bridge and purchased it from the King of...
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The Media General Papers and Thomas Jefferson's Letters
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![The Media General Papers Statue of George Washington at the Virginia State Capitol.](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/TheMediaGeneralPapers_GW-Houdon_01.jpeg.webp?itok=7Vm-d2l-)
Richmond-based Media General and its predecessors were led and grown by four generations of the Bryan family.
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The Peaceful Transfer of Power: Oaths and Inaugurations
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Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
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![VHE_ThomasJefferson_teaser.jpg VHE_ThomasJefferson_teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_ThomasJefferson_teaser.jpg.webp?itok=EUHGdBq-)
Jefferson sent a paper to the Virginia Convention of 1774, later published as A Summary View of the Rights of British...
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Thomas Jefferson’s 1774 Summary View of the Rights of British America
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![A Summary View of the Rights of British America A sepia-toned detail of the typeset A Summary View of the Rights of British America](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/SummaryViewOfRights_e211-j45-1774-rare_Crop.jpg.webp?itok=iz80LRmg)
The importance of Summary View is proven by the reappearance in the Declaration of most of its ideas, beginning with...
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Tiny Tomes
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Defined as no more than three inches in height or width, miniature books were first produced with convenience in mind...
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Tom Molineaux
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![VHE_TomMolineaux_Teaser.jpg VHE_TomMolineaux_Teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_TomMolineaux_Teaser.jpg.webp?itok=caFtfs2X)
Born into enslavement on a Virginia plantation, Tom Molineaux (1784–1818) fought fellow enslaved people while plantation...
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Virginia and Presidential Politics
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![Virginia and Presidential Politics Letter of James Monroe to George Graham](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VirginiaAndPresidentialPolitics_VHC_FW20_Mss1.G7605.a104_v1_0.jpeg.webp?itok=G-0CeCWf)
Soon after the Revolutionary War, American leaders realized that they differed in their visions of what the nation...
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Virginia Landscapes: Sublime & Picturesque
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![Virginia Landscapes A painting titled "Near Harpers Ferry" by Andrew Melrose](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VirginiaLandscapes_SublimeLandscape_nearharpersferry-2013-86-5.jpeg.webp?itok=mg9wVGwu)
Thomas Jefferson wrote that Natural Bridge is “the most sublime of nature’s works”: “It is impossible for the emotions...
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Washington's Mentor: Governor Dinwiddie's Correspondence, 1751-58
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Robert Dinwiddie's name is little known today, but this Scottish merchant-turned-government official played a key role...
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Why We Need to Talk About James Armistead Lafayette
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![James Armistead Lafayette An 1824 engraving of James Armistead Lafayette, after a painting by John B. Martin. The print reproduces the handwritten text of a 1784 testimonial by the Marquis de Lafayette.](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/JamesLafayette_jamesalafayette-1993-215_crop.jpg.webp?itok=1yhFWQLq)
James Armistead Lafayette was an enslaved man who, during the American Revolution, volunteered to join the Continental...
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Writing the Declaration of Independence, 1776
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![VHE_WritingDecofIndependence_Teaser.jpg VHE_WritingDecofIndependence_Teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_WritingDecofIndependence_Teaser.jpg.webp?itok=LpjuRAZT)
Learn about Thomas Jefferson and his role in writing the Declaration of Independence.