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A Beardless Boy of Seventeen Years
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Even before Aristophanes wrote of Lysistrata’s plan to end the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) by convincing the women...
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A Connected Legacy: John Marshall and George Washington
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![A Connected Legacy John Marshall’s inscription inside The Life of George Washington book](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/AConnectedLegacy_P6_Inscription_CMYK.jpeg.webp?itok=Exbxqt1h)
Both the first object acquired by the Virginia Historical Society and arguably one of the best objects in the VMHC...
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A House Built of Virginia Stone
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![A House Built of Virginia Stone Photograph of the Government Island Quarry](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/AHouseBuiltOfVirginiaStone_Government%20Island%20Quarry.jpeg.webp?itok=aheORpaA)
Approximately forty miles south of Washington, D.C., the Aquia sandstone quarry on Government Island sits quietly in the...
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A Spoon That Got Around...
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This silver serving spoon, labeled as “A Spoon That Got Around," was on view in The Story of Virginia exhibition in the...
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Advice and Etiquette Books
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Studying etiquette books offers researchers a glimpse of how people interacted and how they adapted to their changing...
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Children's Manuscripts
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Prominent Virginians are well represented in the many manuscripts housed at the VMHC. However, documents by individuals...
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Christmas Cards
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Christmas cards are ephemeral, and this essence is the very reason they can be of interest to researchers. Scholars...
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Clarise Sears Ramsey
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Charlotte Clarise Sears Risley Harrold Ramsey (1867–1922), whose parents were Joseph Henry Risley and Mary Elizabeth...
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Clementina Rind
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Clementina Rind was Virginia’s first female printer and newspaper publisher, publishing important official documents for...
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Colonial Cookbooks
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![TX705.F5.1750.Rare_frontispiece.jpg TX705.F5.1750.Rare_frontispiece.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/TX705.F5.1750.Rare_frontispiece.jpg.webp?itok=I6BVm633)
Food and dining were integral to social life in the eighteenth century, particularly among the upper class. The gentry...
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Convict Leasing
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For much of the twentieth century, convicts worked on Virginia’s roads. This practice grew out of the convict lease...
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Dolley Madison
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Dolley (Payne) Todd Madison (1768–1849) lived through three wars, knew eleven presidents, and was a gracious and...
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Flag Day
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Although it is not a national holiday, in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially...
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Founding Frenemies: Hamilton and The Virginians
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![Founding Frenemies Note issued by the National Bank in 1793](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/FoundingFrenemies_P6_Hamilton_BankNote_CMYK.jpeg.webp?itok=zH3BK0Gb)
This exhibition examined how critically important relationships between Alexander Hamilton and three Virginians shaped...
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Freedmen's Schools
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In the antebellum South, African Americans were generally prevented from receiving education. After Appomattox...
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George Washington's Farewell Address
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![George Washington's Farewell Address Painting of George Washington](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/GeorgeWashingtonsFarewellAddress_VHC_FW21_GeorgeWashington.1857.2_2.jpeg.webp?itok=j_d7NXj1)
George Washington’s Farewell Address to the people of the United States appeared in newspapers across the nation; then...
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Glee Clubs
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The VMHC has several glee club items in its collection. The earliest item, an 1848 broadside entitled “Rally Whigs”...
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James Jones Archive (1870s-1960s)
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With a coat of faded red paint and a crude hand-forged hasp to secure its lid, the simple pine chest – once used to...
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John Marshall's Robe
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![John Marshall's Robe Painting of John Marshall](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/JohnMarshallsRobe_VHC_FW21_JohnMarshall.1988.jpeg.webp?itok=mRNB0pPr)
The only surviving judicial robe from John Marshall’s 34 years of service as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court...
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John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore
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John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore, was Virginia's last royal governor.