Filters  

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

Alexander & Virginia Weddell: A Love Story

Image

Many years ago, a love story was ignited between the future residents of Virginia House , Alexander and Virginia Weddell...

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

Booker T. Washington

Image

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) was born enslaved on April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Virginia. After emancipation...

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

Colonial Cookbooks

Image

Food and dining were integral to social life in the eighteenth century, particularly among the upper class. The gentry...

Article

Colored Knights of Pythias Helmet (c. 1890)

Image

Race has been a divisive issue throughout American history, and this impressive helmet tells part of the story.

Article

Convict Leasing

Image

For much of the twentieth century, convicts worked on Virginia’s roads. This practice grew out of the convict lease...

Article

Diaries

Image

Do you remember the first time you swam in the ocean? What about the first movie you watched? Moments like those and...

Article

Education in Virginia

Image

The Virginia Constitution of 1869, passed during Reconstruction, established a statewide system of free public schools...

Article

Elizabeth Keckley

Image

Born a slave in Dinwiddie County, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) purchased her freedom in 1855 and supported...

Article

Ella Fitzgerald's False Eyelashes

Image

Legendary singer and Virginia native Ella Fitzgerald, dubbed “The First Lady of Song,” exhilarated audiences with her...

Article

Ellen Glasgow’s Broken Heart

Image

Valentine’s Day cards and the celebrations around the holiday began to escalate during the early twentieth century.

Article

Equal Suffrage League of Virginia

Image

Learn about how the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia helped women gain the right to vote.

Article

Glee Clubs

Image

The VMHC has several glee club items in its collection. The earliest item, an 1848 broadside entitled “Rally Whigs”...

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...

Article

Jim Crow to Civil Rights in Virginia

Image

Following the Civil War, black Virginians struggled to assert their independence and make freedom meaningful. In the...

Article

Juneteenth

Image

Pop Civ is a series developed by the John Marshall Center for Constitutional History & Civics at the VMHC. By connecting...