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Article
Jefferson’s Desk
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![Jefferson's Writing Desk A rectangular wooden desk, with writing surface propped at an angle and drawer opened](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Desk.1956.1_Open_SLIDE.jpg.webp?itok=TN1yHIPN)
There are many reproductions of the desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Some have even...
Article
John Marshall Speculates on America’s Second Bank
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![John Marshall letters Two sepia toned handwritten letter pages](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/John%20Marshall%20letter%20to%20son%20about%20bank.JPG.webp?itok=mi5rOD9Q)
A question on the minds of politicians and voters in 1832 America was whether the Second Bank of the United States, the...
Article
John Randolph Dueling Pistols (c. 1820)
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![John Randolph Dueling Pistols John Randolph's Dueling Pistol](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/JohnRandolphDuelingPistols_DuelingPistols_1961.35_v1.jpeg.webp?itok=lHDss51V)
The death of former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton — resulting from his famous 1804 duel with Vice President...
Article
Juneteenth
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![Juneteenth Flag Juneteenth Flag](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/PopCiv_Juneteenth_Flag.png.webp?itok=zFWtlf45)
Pop Civ is a series developed by the John Marshall Center for Constitutional History & Civics at the VMHC. By connecting...
Article
Lane Cedar Chest
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![Lane furniture ad.jpg Lane furniture ad.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Lane%20furniture%20ad.jpg.webp?itok=Y18Md4XP)
Few Virginia-manufactured items were as well known as the Lane Cedar Chest. When the Lane Company closed its Altavista...
Article
Larus & Brother Advertisements
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![Mss3.L3297a.FA1_.Box15.Poles_.jpg Mss3.L3297a.FA1_.Box15.Poles_.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Mss3.L3297a.FA1_.Box15.Poles_.jpg.webp?itok=bK5_t5e-)
In 1877 a partnership between Charles D. Larus and Herbert C. Larus formed the Larus & Brother Company. This small...
Media
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/N1Kw3m2rThMDvxPzOgVLofHYgsZLkwOuCbkB-Og4dpM.jpg)
On November 14, Daniel Okrent delivered the 2012 Alexander W. Weddell Lecture entitled "Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition."
Article Set - Intro
Lee and Grant
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![0.25 LetUsHavePEace_Grant_Lee.jpg 0.25 LetUsHavePEace_Grant_Lee.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/0.25%20LetUsHavePEace_Grant_Lee.jpg.webp?itok=xTzdH4gk)
By the end of the Civil War, most Americans considered either Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant to be a hero. The time has come for a reassessment of these two men, on whom fell the greatest responsibility for the survival or disintegration of the United States.
Article
Letterhead
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![Letterhead engraving, c. 1860, of Richmond, Va., by Louis A. Ramm Letterhead engraving, c. 1860, of Richmond, Va., by Louis A. Ramm](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_Letterhead_Mss1.R7243a29.jpg.webp?itok=t1eWtOzZ)
Correspondence between individuals plays an important role in our understanding not only of how people communicated in...
Article
Maggie Lena Walker
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![VHE_MaggieLWalker_Teaser.jpg VHE_MaggieLWalker_Teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_MaggieLWalker_Teaser.jpg.webp?itok=LGIwISLy)
Maggie Lena Walker (1864–1934) was the daughter of Elizabeth Draper, a former kitchen slave and then cook in the Civil...
Article
Murals Inspired by the Story of Virginia
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![Still Relevant by Ed Trask Ed Trask paints a mural of flowers](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/FreshPaint_StillRelevant_DSC0887_e1%20copy.jpg.webp?itok=vx9S_GnP)
Richmond is now home to more than 100 outdoor murals, and this popular form of artwork reflects the city’s modernity and...
Media
Native Southerners: The Indigenous People Who Made and Remade the South
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On May 9, 2019, Gregory D. Smithers delivered the Banner Lecture, “Native Southerners: The Indigenous People Who Made and Remade the South.”
Long...
Article
Oysters in Virginia
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![VHE_Oysters_OysterCan_Teaser.jpg VHE_Oysters_OysterCan_Teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHE_Oysters_OysterCan_Teaser.jpg.webp?itok=2BC7sR7V)
Learn about the history of oyster in Virginia's food culture, tourism, and economy.
Time Period Chapter
Political Decline and Westward Migration
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![ConestogaWagon.1993.48_side.jpg ConestogaWagon.1993.48_side.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/ConestogaWagon.1993.48_side.jpg.webp?itok=9bwRymof)
The political stature of Virginia declined on the national stage when no successors of ability emerged to replace the...
Time Period Chapter
Racial Inequality
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![BookerTWashington.2006.200.jpg BookerTWashington.2006.200.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/BookerTWashington.2006.200.jpg.webp?itok=Kfqz7j1l)
Confederate defeat threatened to change white southern identity. Suddenly African Americans were free to determine the...
Article Set - Chapter
Reconciliation
After Appomattox, Ulysses S. Grant was the savior of the United States, while Robert E. Lee was the greatest hero of the Lost
Article
Reynolds Aluminum: It's the Cans!
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![Reynolds Aluminum Reynolds Metals Company Packaging Band Wagon](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/ReynoldsAluminum_Cans_mss3-r3395a-ser8-1-fdr10_greatestsalesshow3.jpeg.webp?itok=rSh4m5Q_)
David P. Reynolds was the last member of his family to lead Reynolds Metals, which was founded in 1919 by his father...
Article
Rural Life in Virginia
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![TWP_Rural-Life_PickingPeanuts.2000.186.85.jpg TWP_Rural-Life_PickingPeanuts.2000.186.85.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/TWP_Rural-Life_PickingPeanuts.2000.186.85.jpg.webp?itok=rOnMeVfw)
Learn more about rural life and agricultural history in Virginia.
Media
Secrets & Symbols: "Crown of Thorns" Chest of Drawers
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/NRzeatuaSP6ff0RzgEeJ6AsbIdq1DHu4FQcUYKAYup4.jpg)
“Crown of Thorns” chest of drawers, late 1800s
Unknown maker
VMHC Collection
So-called tramp art was popular across the U.S. from the 1870s to the 1930s...
Media
Secrets & Symbols: Child's Chest of Drawers
![](/sites/default/files/oembed_thumbnails/guehiA0NtYQw2apsrqeozEeT3ojkFGrdDIwIYxodDH4.jpg)
Chest of drawers, about 1914
William L. Hedgbeth, Sr. (1882–1966)
VMHC Collection, Gift of Llewellyn H. Hedgbeth in memory of her grandfather William L...