The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
Article
A Beardless Boy of Seventeen Years
Image
![](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/BeardlessBoy_burial-of-latane-blog-copy.jpeg.webp?itok=8TLjolKr)
Even before Aristophanes wrote of Lysistrata’s plan to end the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) by convincing the women...
Article
Advice and Etiquette Books
Image
![BJ1838.O8.Cover_.jpg BJ1838.O8.Cover_.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/BJ1838.O8.Cover_.jpg.webp?itok=z6Xl4K7b)
Studying etiquette books offers researchers a glimpse of how people interacted and how they adapted to their changing...
Article
Audubon's The Birds of America
Image
![](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Audubon_2013-9-18-audubon_05e.jpg.webp?itok=S9aL5mJj)
In the VMHC collections are several rare editions of his work, including a first edition of Viviparous Quadrupeds and...
Article
Audubon's Viviparous Quadrapeds
Image
![QL715.A916.1845.RareFolio.Deer_.jpg QL715.A916.1845.RareFolio.Deer_.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/QL715.A916.1845.RareFolio.Deer_.jpg.webp?itok=TlOTK0Dk)
Following the success of his Birds of America, John James Audubon began to gather material for an equally ambitious...
Article
Bookplates
Image
![Bookplate.2012.1.5.jpg Bookplate.2012.1.5.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Bookplate.2012.1.5.jpg.webp?itok=W4-zqjnX)
The use of bookplates is almost as old as printing itself. They were used to record ownership and to reassure the owner...
Article
Clarise Sears Ramsey
Image
![](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Plantation_clarisesearsramsey-1992-117-10_0.jpeg.webp?itok=939GFhww)
Charlotte Clarise Sears Risley Harrold Ramsey (1867–1922), whose parents were Joseph Henry Risley and Mary Elizabeth...
Article
Convict Leasing
Image
![](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/CreatedEqual_bo-blog-mss1-b3483a_combo.jpeg.webp?itok=qJW4RIo_)
For much of the twentieth century, convicts worked on Virginia’s roads. This practice grew out of the convict lease...
Article
Double Take
Image
![](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/DoubleTake_lucygoodetuckerchambers-1974-15-12.jpeg.webp?itok=8UHrFHyF)
Daguerreotypes are the earliest form of permanent photographic imagery. They are made by capturing an image on a...
Article
Freedmen's Schools
Image
![VHE_Freedmen_Harpers Weekley cropped.jpg VHE_Freedmen_Harpers Weekley cropped.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_Freedmen_Harpers%20Weekley%20cropped.jpg.webp?itok=TmJCMsl0)
In the antebellum South, African Americans were generally prevented from receiving education. After Appomattox...
Article
Glee Clubs
Image
![](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Gleek_broadside-1848-19-rallywhigs.jpeg.webp?itok=YPtAkXdH)
The VMHC has several glee club items in its collection. The earliest item, an 1848 broadside entitled “Rally Whigs”...
Article
Indian Tribes of North America
Image
![E77.M13.RareFolio.Keokuk.jpg E77.M13.RareFolio.Keokuk.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/E77.M13.RareFolio.Keokuk.jpg.webp?itok=0Y7v4Q5k)
In the museum's rare book collection, a remarkable compilation of images exists in History of the Indian Tribes of North...
Article
Jefferson’s Desk
Image
![Jefferson's Writing Desk A rectangular wooden desk, with writing surface propped at an angle and drawer opened](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Desk.1956.1_Open_SLIDE.jpg.webp?itok=TN1yHIPN)
There are many reproductions of the desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Some have even...
Article
Let Us Commence: Graduating At A Distance
Image
![Let Us Commence: Graduating At A Distance Samantha Hukeless’s diploma from Van de Vyver Institute.](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/LetUsCommence_Screen%20Shot%202020-05-19%20at%2012.53.58%20PM.jpeg.webp?itok=MbIdG0xM)
Learn about the history of commencement ceremonies and traditions in Virginia.
Article
Letterhead
Image
![Letterhead engraving, c. 1860, of Richmond, Va., by Louis A. Ramm Letterhead engraving, c. 1860, of Richmond, Va., by Louis A. Ramm](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_Letterhead_Mss1.R7243a29.jpg.webp?itok=t1eWtOzZ)
Correspondence between individuals plays an important role in our understanding not only of how people communicated in...
Article
Liberated Books
Image
![VB360.A2.1826.Rare_.TitlePage.jpg VB360.A2.1826.Rare_.TitlePage.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VB360.A2.1826.Rare_.TitlePage.jpg.webp?itok=m_z7X3le)
During the Civil War, looting by soldiers was a common practice. The hungry soldier usually confiscated food and...
Article
Murals Inspired by the Story of Virginia
Image
![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...
Article
Robert Edward Lee
Image
![Robert E. Lee A painting of Robert E. Lee in military dress](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_RobertELee.1957.29_medium-CROP.jpg.webp?itok=qb8IWjkJ)
Robert Edward Lee (1807–1870) was born at Stratford in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1807, the son of Revolutionary...
Article
The Brook Hill Collection
Image
![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...
Article
The History of Virginia's Natural Bridge: "So Beautiful an Arch"
Image
![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...
Article
The Honor of Membership
Image
![membership guys.jpg membership guys.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/membership%20guys.jpg.webp?itok=RnPi2pS6)
The governing body of the museum has elected close to 200 honorary members in its 175-year history. The long list...