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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 Life Rediscovered: The Story of Emily Winfree

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Emily Winfree, an African American woman who lived through slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow, never...

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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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Arthur Ashe Jr.’s Family Tree: Tracing the Blackwell Family to 1735

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See a rare family tree, drawn by hand on canvas, tracing Arthur Ashe, Jr.’s family.

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Booker T. Washington

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Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) was born enslaved on April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Virginia. After emancipation...

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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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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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Colored Knights of Pythias Helmet (c. 1890)

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Race has been a divisive issue throughout American history, and this impressive helmet tells part of the story.

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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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Elizabeth Keckley

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Born a slave in Dinwiddie County, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) purchased her freedom in 1855 and supported...

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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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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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How Did Enslaved People Support the Confederacy?

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Enslaved and free black people provided even more labor than usual for Virginia farms when 89 percent of eligible white...

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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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Love and War

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Though it has torn many asunder, war has also brought people together.

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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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Men of Color To Arms?

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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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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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Opiate Addiction in the Civil War's Aftermath

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In the Civil War’s wake, thousands of veterans became addicted to morphine and opium, medicines used to treat painful...

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Richmond in the Midst of the Civil War

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As the Confederate capital, Richmond experienced waves of change that saw the city lurch from the untidy influx of...