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Shaving Kits
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Before the invention of the disposable double-edged safety razor in 1895, a straight razor was the easiest, most...
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The Battle of Five Forks
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![VHE_BattleofFiveForks_Teaser.jpg VHE_BattleofFiveForks_Teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_BattleofFiveForks_Teaser.jpg.webp?itok=zBNMvFFS)
Learn about the Battle of Five Forks during the Civil War.
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The Battle of Five Forks
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![BattleOfFiveForks.2006.190.jpg BattleOfFiveForks.2006.190.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/BattleOfFiveForks.2006.190.jpg.webp?itok=dnioiQBa)
Union victory at the Battle of Five Forks resulted in the capture of the Southside Railroad and ushered in the final...
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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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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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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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Transportation in Virginia
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![VHE_Transportation_CarMudDumfries.2000.186.454.B.jpg VHE_Transportation_CarMudDumfries.2000.186.454.B.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_Transportation_CarMudDumfries.2000.186.454.B.jpg.webp?itok=Mw4GtQx7)
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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Valentines
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![Valentine.2003.87.1.jpg Valentine.2003.87.1.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Valentine.2003.87.1.jpg.webp?itok=VoubH7_C)
February 14 has a long history as a day for friends and sweethearts to exchange tokens of affection. By the end of the...
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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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Virginia’s Sweet History – Chocolate-Making in the Commonwealth
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![VHE_Chocolate_2019-12-14_Chocolate-Demo001.jpg VHE_Chocolate_2019-12-14_Chocolate-Demo001.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_Chocolate_2019-12-14_Chocolate-Demo001.jpg.webp?itok=q1IV_d0S)
Production methods and flavorings have changed in the 4,000 years since chocolate was consumption began, but it remains...
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What Lies Beneath: Examining Cranstone's Slave Auction, Virginia
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![What Lies Beneath: Examining Cranstone's Slave Auction, Virginia A painting titled "Slave Auction, Virginia" by Lefevre J. Cranstone.](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/WhatLiesBeneath_SlaveAuction.1991.70_sm.jpeg.webp?itok=XLumnW0x)
The museum world is brimming with tales of curators sleuthing to discover intriguing stories that lay beneath the...
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Who Freed the Enslaved People?
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![Who Freed the Enslaved People? Painting of President Lincoln writing the Proclamation of Freedom by David Gilmore Blythe](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/WhoFreedTheEnslavedPeople_VHE_ATP_LC-DIG-ppmsca-18444.jpeg.webp?itok=zYcrzehk)
Two years of fighting changed what the war was about. Beginning in 1863, the North no longer fought only to save the...
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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.