The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
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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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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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Men of Color To Arms?
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![Gold Soldier Identification Disc Gold Soldier Identification Disc](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Men%20of%20Color%20To%20Arms_VHE_ATP_TurnerIDdisk.PHP_.verso_silhouette.jpg.webp?itok=-Gmic8kn)
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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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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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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Richmond in the Midst of the Civil War
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![Mss1.J8586b225.007_cropped.jpg Mss1.J8586b225.007_cropped.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Mss1.J8586b225.007_cropped.jpg.webp?itok=WpzUMJso)
As the Confederate capital, Richmond experienced waves of change that saw the city lurch from the untidy influx of...
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Rural Life in Virginia
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![TWP_Rural-Life_PickingPeanuts.2000.186.85.jpg TWP_Rural-Life_PickingPeanuts.2000.186.85.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/TWP_Rural-Life_PickingPeanuts.2000.186.85.jpg.webp?itok=rOnMeVfw)
Learn more about rural life and agricultural history in Virginia.
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Separate and Unequal: The Breakdown of Segregation in Virginia Schools
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![Teenagers protesting school closings Historic photograph of two black teenage girls protesting school closings](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Farmville%2BProtest%20%28002%29%20v2.jpg.webp?itok=vR6ip63v)
The Virginia Constitution of 1869 established a statewide system of free public schools. The schools evolved in the...
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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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Surrender of the English Army at Yorktown
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![Surrender of the English Army at Yorktown A painting of the surrender of the English army.](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/SurrenderofTheEnglishArmyAtYorktown_SOV_BecAm_SurrenderAtYorktown.1993.213.jpeg.webp?itok=PaCHSd7L)
View how the surrender at Yorktown was represented by artists.
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The Brook Hill Collection
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![The Brook Hill Collection Books from the Brook Hill collection](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/BrookHillCollection_New-Book-Images-001_edited.jpeg.webp?itok=dOOK5X9w)
In 2018, the VMHC was gifted an extraordinary collection of books, documents, and art associated with the Stewart and...
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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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Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
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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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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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Transportation in Virginia
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Transportation began to change early in the nineteenth century with the introduction of steam power and the development...
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United States Colored Troops Muster Rolls
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![United States Colored Troops Muster Rolls Photograph of Company E 4th U.S. Colored Infantry](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/UnitedStatesColoredTroopsMusterRolls_P8_Collections_Soldiers_Gray.jpeg.webp?itok=A0KOVc6x)
Organized at Camp Stanton in Benedict, Maryland, in February 1864, the 30th USCT served in spring campaigns in Virginia...
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Urbanization in Virginia
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![VHE_Urbanization_BroadSt.Richmond.2002.266.41.jpg VHE_Urbanization_BroadSt.Richmond.2002.266.41.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_Urbanization_BroadSt.Richmond.2002.266.41.jpg.webp?itok=kl_JlMML)
Learn about the process of urbanization in Virginia.
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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...