The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
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
Dolley Madison
Image
Dolley (Payne) Todd Madison (1768–1849) lived through three wars, knew eleven presidents, and was a gracious and...
Article
Elizabeth Keckley
Image
Born a slave in Dinwiddie County, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) purchased her freedom in 1855 and supported...
Article
Flag Day
Image
Although it is not a national holiday, in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially...
Article
Founding Frenemies: Hamilton and The Virginians
Image
This exhibition examined how critically important relationships between Alexander Hamilton and three Virginians shaped...
Article
Freedmen's Schools
Image
In the antebellum South, African Americans were generally prevented from receiving education. After Appomattox...
Article
George Washington Portrait by Charles Peale Polk
Image
This depiction of George Washington (1732–1799) as commander of the Continental army was painted in the 1790s by Charles...
Article
George Washington's Farewell Address
Image
George Washington’s Farewell Address to the people of the United States appeared in newspapers across the nation; then...
Article
Glee Clubs
Image
The VMHC has several glee club items in its collection. The earliest item, an 1848 broadside entitled “Rally Whigs”...
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
How Did Enslaved People Support the Confederacy?
Image
Enslaved and free black people provided even more labor than usual for Virginia farms when 89 percent of eligible white...
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
John Marshall's Robe
Image
The only surviving judicial robe from John Marshall’s 34 years of service as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court...
Article
John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore
Image
John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore, was Virginia's last royal governor.
Article
John Randolph Dueling Pistols (c. 1820)
Image
The death of former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton — resulting from his famous 1804 duel with Vice President...
Article
Juneteenth
Image
Pop Civ is a series developed by the John Marshall Center for Constitutional History & Civics at the VMHC. By connecting...
Article
Letterhead
Image
Correspondence between individuals plays an important role in our understanding not only of how people communicated in...
Article
Liberated Books
Image
During the Civil War, looting by soldiers was a common practice. The hungry soldier usually confiscated food and...
Article
Love and War
Image
Though it has torn many asunder, war has also brought people together.
Article
Maggie Lena Walker
Image
Maggie Lena Walker (1864–1934) was the daughter of Elizabeth Draper, a former kitchen slave and then cook in the Civil...