The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
Article
A Beardless Boy of Seventeen Years
Image
Even before Aristophanes wrote of Lysistrata’s plan to end the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) by convincing the women...
Article
A House Built of Virginia Stone
Image
Approximately forty miles south of Washington, D.C., the Aquia sandstone quarry on Government Island sits quietly in the...
Article
A Life Rediscovered: The Story of Emily Winfree
Image
Emily Winfree, an African American woman who lived through slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow, never...
Article
A Spoon That Got Around...
Image
This silver serving spoon, labeled as “A Spoon That Got Around," was on view in The Story of Virginia exhibition in the...
Article
Advice and Etiquette Books
Image
Studying etiquette books offers researchers a glimpse of how people interacted and how they adapted to their changing...
Article
Arthur Ashe Jr.’s Family Tree: Tracing the Blackwell Family to 1735
Image
See a rare family tree, drawn by hand on canvas, tracing Arthur Ashe, Jr.’s family.
Article
Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia in the years 1675 & 1676
Image
Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia was the first popular uprising in the American colonies. It was long viewed as an early...
Article
Birthday Songs for George Washington
Image
Though you might not expect it, 1932 was a big year for George Washington. It marked the 200th anniversary of Washington...
Article
Céloron Plate
Image
One of the most important artifacts to survive from Virginia’s colonial period, this lead plaque was placed at the...
Article
Children's Manuscripts
Image
Prominent Virginians are well represented in the many manuscripts housed at the VMHC. However, documents by individuals...
Article
Clarise Sears Ramsey
Image
Charlotte Clarise Sears Risley Harrold Ramsey (1867–1922), whose parents were Joseph Henry Risley and Mary Elizabeth...
Article
Clementina Rind
Image
Clementina Rind was Virginia’s first female printer and newspaper publisher, publishing important official documents for...
Article
Colonial Cookbooks
Image
Food and dining were integral to social life in the eighteenth century, particularly among the upper class. The gentry...
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
George Washington, Land Surveyor
Image
George Washington’s surveying work spanned fifty years and enabled him to acquire vast tracts of land.
Article
Glee Clubs
Image
The VMHC has several glee club items in its collection. The earliest item, an 1848 broadside entitled “Rally Whigs”...
Article
Grace Sherwood: The "Witch of Pungo"
Image
On July 10, 1706, a forty-six-year-old Princess Anne County woman named Grace Sherwood faced an unusual legal procedure...
Article
How Did Civilians Suffer?
Image
White women and children were left to fend for themselves, and many became widows and orphans when one in five...
Article
James Jones Archive (1870s-1960s)
Image
With a coat of faded red paint and a crude hand-forged hasp to secure its lid, the simple pine chest – once used to...