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Time Period

1764 to 1824

British taxation—introduced to pay for a British military presence in America—was unexpected by the Virginia gentry and resented. Those Americans began to view British policy as a plot against their liberty. They played leading roles in the Continental Congresses that debated independence, in the fighting of the American Revolution, and in the conception and implementation of a new government. Virginia also provided four of the new nation’s first five presidents. Virginia leaders advocated equality for all but they never considered extending it to women and African Americans.

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2009 Stuart G. Christian, Jr., Lecture: "Jefferson in Perspective" By Daniel P. Jordan

On May 21, 2009, Daniel P. Jordan delivered the 2009 Stuart G. Christian, Jr., lecture entitled “Jefferson in Perspective.”

Daniel P. Jordan retired...

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2023 Hazel and Fulton Chauncey Lecture - The Jeffersonians

On July 19, 2023, historian and bestselling author, Kevin R. C. Gutzman, presented the 2023 Hazel and Fulton Chauncey Lecture. Before the consecutive...

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A Connected Legacy: John Marshall and George Washington

John Marshall’s inscription inside The Life of George Washington book

Both the first object acquired by the Virginia Historical Society and arguably one of the best objects in the VMHC...

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A House Built of Virginia Stone

Photograph of the Government Island Quarry

Approximately forty miles south of Washington, D.C., the Aquia sandstone quarry on Government Island sits quietly in the...

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A Madman’s Will: John Randolph, Four Hundred Slaves, and the Mirage of Freedom

On September 14, 2023, Greg May discussed his eye-opening new book, A Madman's Will: John Randolph, Four Hundred Slaves, and the Mirage of Freedom...

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A Nation of Deadbeats: An Uncommon History of America's Financial Disasters

On November 8, 2012, Scott Reynolds Nelson delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "A Nation of Deadbeats: An Uncommon History of America's Financial...

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A Spoon That Got Around...

A silver spoon propped on a plastic block

This silver serving spoon, labeled as “A Spoon That Got Around," was on view in The Story of Virginia exhibition in the...

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Almost Dead: Slavery and Social Rebirth in the Black Urban Atlantic

On August 17, 2023, historian Dr. Michael Lawrence Dickinson discussed his book on the Atlantic slave trade and how the thousands of captives who...

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American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America by David O. Stewart

On March 15, 2012, David O. Stewart delivered a lecture entitled “American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America.”

A canny and...

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Arming the Commonwealth

From providing protection from enemy combatants to finding dinner for a family, weapons have played a significant role...

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

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

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Before the War

Born into a Virginia family whose members had for generations assumed public leadership roles, Robert E. Lee followed the

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Bookplates

The use of bookplates is almost as old as printing itself. They were used to record ownership and to reassure the owner...

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Bound to the Fire: How Virginia’s Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine

In grocery store aisles and kitchens across the country, smiling images of “Aunt Jemima” and other historical and fictional black cooks can be found...

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