The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
Exhibition
A Better Life for Their Children
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![Elroy & Sophia Williams – Sophia Williams’s Grandparents, Former Slaves, Acquired and Donated Land for a Rosenwald School. Photo by Andrew Feiler. Two people hold an ornately frame painted portrait of two people in early 1900s dress](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/19%20Elroy%20%26%20Sophia%20Williams%20%E2%80%93%20Sophia%20Williams%E2%80%99s%20Grandparents%2C%20Former%20Slaves%2C%20Acquired%20and%20Donated%20Land%20for%20a%20Rosenwald%20School.jpg.webp?itok=njqvitgO)
From 1912-37, the Rosenwald schools program built thousands of schools, shops, and teacher’s homes across 15 Southern...
Article
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...
Time Period Chapter
A New Virginia
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![RELeeLapDesk.2005.382.1.jpg RELeeLapDesk.2005.382.1.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/RELeeLapDesk.2005.382.1.jpg.webp?itok=BB3KvMKS)
In the early twentieth century, the nation’s economy was becoming more industrialized and its population more urbanized.
Media
Across Time: Robinson House, Its Land and People
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On February 28, 2019, Elizabeth L. O’Leary delivered the Banner Lecture, “Across Time: Robinson House, Its Land and People.”
What is that building...
Exhibition
Agents of Change
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![AgentsofChange_HeaderImage.jpg AgentsofChange_HeaderImage.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/AgentsofChange_HeaderImage.jpg.webp?itok=g-ZiTR3t)
Organized in conjunction with the statewide Women’s Suffrage Centennial, this exhibition featured artifacts from the...
General Content
Agents of Change Traveling Exhibition
Bring Agents of Change to your venue! Learn how you can bring our Agents of Change: Female Activism in Virginia from...
Media
Airship ROMA: A Forgotten Tragedy
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On February 9, Nancy E. Sheppard delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “Airship ROMA: A Forgotten Tragedy.”
In March 1921, Maj. John G. Thornell and...
Article
Arming the Commonwealth
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![Exhibits_ArmingTheCommonwealth_CartridgeBox.1990.100.367.jpg Exhibits_ArmingTheCommonwealth_CartridgeBox.1990.100.367.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Exhibits_ArmingTheCommonwealth_CartridgeBox.1990.100.367.jpg.webp?itok=mGWliVR3)
From providing protection from enemy combatants to finding dinner for a family, weapons have played a significant role...
Article
Arthur Ashe Jr.’s Family Tree: Tracing the Blackwell Family to 1735
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![VHE_BlackwellFamilyTree_AsheDetail.jpg VHE_BlackwellFamilyTree_AsheDetail.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_BlackwellFamilyTree_AsheDetail.jpg.webp?itok=L_TH1RBs)
See a rare family tree, drawn by hand on canvas, tracing Arthur Ashe, Jr.’s family.
Media
Becoming an Author: Amélie Rives’s Audacious Entrance into Publishing by Jane Censer Turner
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On April 28, 2022, historian Jane Turner Censer presented a lecture about the literary career of Amélie Rives.
By 1890, Amélie Rives was well-known...
Article
Birthday Songs for George Washington
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Though you might not expect it, 1932 was a big year for George Washington. It marked the 200th anniversary of Washington...
Article
Bookplates
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![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 Set - Chapter
Byrd Family
A man driven by enormous ambition, William Byrd II of Westover was an exceptional figure in colonial America. Educated in
Media
Carillon: The Story of a Richmond Community
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On November 14, 2013, Elizabeth O'Leary delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Carillon: The Story of a Richmond Community."
An active community...
Article
Céloron Plate
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![VHE_Celeron Plate_teaser.jpg VHE_Celeron Plate_teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_Celeron%20Plate_teaser.jpg.webp?itok=jgJOsCVL)
One of the most important artifacts to survive from Virginia’s colonial period, this lead plaque was placed at the...
Article
Christmas Cards
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![Mss1.W2296b.6645_6647.GoodWishes.jpg Mss1.W2296b.6645_6647.GoodWishes.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Mss1.W2296b.6645_6647.GoodWishes.jpg.webp?itok=IJRLlSRZ)
Christmas cards are ephemeral, and this essence is the very reason they can be of interest to researchers. Scholars...
Article
Christmas in the Trenches
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Read excerpts from soldiers' letters home about their Christmas meals while stationed away from home.
Article
Clarise Sears Ramsey
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Charlotte Clarise Sears Risley Harrold Ramsey (1867–1922), whose parents were Joseph Henry Risley and Mary Elizabeth...
Article
Clementina Rind
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![Rind letter.jpg Rind letter.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Rind%20letter.jpg.webp?itok=EZH_y0Zb)
Clementina Rind was Virginia’s first female printer and newspaper publisher, publishing important official documents for...
Article
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...