The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
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
Grace Sherwood: The "Witch of Pungo"
Image
On July 10, 1706, a forty-six-year-old Princess Anne County woman named Grace Sherwood faced an unusual legal procedure...
Article
Henkel Press
Image
In 1806, two young men, Ambrose Henkel and his brother Solomon, started one of the first German language presses in the...
Article
House Tour
Image
Learn more about Great Hall, Sulgrave Bedroom, Withdrawing Room, Dining Room, and Library at the historic Tudor-style...
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
Jim Crow to Civil Rights in Virginia
Image
Following the Civil War, black Virginians struggled to assert their independence and make freedom meaningful. In the...
Article
John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore
Image
John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore, was Virginia's last royal governor.
Article
L. Douglas Wilder
Image
Learn about L. Douglas Wilder, the first elected African American governor in United States history.
Article
Letters to Santa
Image
Take a closer look at letters to Santa in the VMHC's collections.
Article
Life Portrait of Pocahontas
Image
The only life portrait of Pocahontas (1595–1617) and the only credible image of her, was engraved by Simon Van de Passe...
Article
Lila (Meade) Valentine
Image
Lila (Meade) Valentine (1865–1921), president of the Equal Suffrage League, championed causes of health and education...
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...
Article
Martha (Dandridge) Custis Washington
Image
This portrait of Martha Washington (1731–1802) is the work of Charles Willson Peale, who also painted the sitter several...
Article
Mary-Cooke Branch Munford
Image
Learn how Mary-Cooke Branch Munford helped improve education in Virginia.
Article
Men of Color To Arms?
Image
When the war began, many black Americans—North and South—volunteered to serve as soldiers. United by a belief in black...
Article
Nancy Langhorne Shaw Astor
Image
Viscountess Astor (1879–1964) was the first woman to take a seat in the British House of Commons. Nancy was born in...
Article
Olaudah Equiano
Image
Snatched from his Ibo village in Nigeria at the age of eleven, Equiano (c. 1745-1797) was transported to Barbados...
Article
Patrick Henry Arguing the Parsons’ Cause
Image
The Parsons’ Cause was a legal conflict rooted in the volatility of the tobacco-based economy and the state-sponsored...