The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
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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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From Horse-Driven to Gas-Fueled Transportation
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This gravity-flow pump (c. 1927), used near Petersburg, Virginia, is evidence of the state’s transition from horse...
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George Washington, Land Surveyor
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George Washington’s surveying work spanned fifty years and enabled him to acquire vast tracts of land.
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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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Henkel Press
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In 1806, two young men, Ambrose Henkel and his brother Solomon, started one of the first German language presses in the...
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Industrialization in Virginia
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The 1920 census revealed that, for the first time, more Americans were living in urban areas than rural ones. However...
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Jacob L. "JL" Morewitz
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Jacob L. “JL” Morewitz was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1896 but raised in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1916, at the age of...
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Jefferson’s Desk
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There are many reproductions of the desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Some have even...
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John Marshall Speculates on America’s Second Bank
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A question on the minds of politicians and voters in 1832 America was whether the Second Bank of the United States, the...
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Lane Cedar Chest
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Few Virginia-manufactured items were as well known as the Lane Cedar Chest. When the Lane Company closed its Altavista...
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Larus & Brother Advertisements
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In 1877 a partnership between Charles D. Larus and Herbert C. Larus formed the Larus & Brother Company. This small...
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Let Us Commence: Graduating At A Distance
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Learn about the history of commencement ceremonies and traditions in Virginia.
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Letterhead
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Correspondence between individuals plays an important role in our understanding not only of how people communicated in...
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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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Mary-Cooke Branch Munford
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Learn how Mary-Cooke Branch Munford helped improve education in Virginia.
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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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New Normals for the Old Dominion
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The State Normal Schools for Women, so called because they set the norms (or standards) for teaching, were born out of a...
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Offense or Defense?
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To win the war, United States troops needed to invade and control an unfriendly South and subdue Confederate armies.
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Oysters in Virginia
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Learn about the history of oyster in Virginia's food culture, tourism, and economy.
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Religion and the Marriage of Bazile & Bowcock
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Contained in the VMHC collections are a series of letters between Bazile and his future wife, Virginia Hamilton Bowcock.