The search results below contain listings from our website. To search our library and museum collections catalogs, please visit the Collections page.
Time Period
16,000 BCE to 1622 CE
Image
At the time of the great northern glaciers, Native Americans followed the game they hunted to Virginia. Ten thousand years later, as the cold of the Ice Age gave way to a warmer, drier climate, they relied also on foraging and farming. After about 900 CE they settled into villages that united into chiefdoms. In 1607, in pursuit of opportunity in a new world, English settlers intruded into an eastern Virginia chiefdom of thirty-two tribes (15,000 to 20,000 people). Its leader then was Wahunsenacawh, whom the new settlers called by his title, Powhatan.
Time Period
1623 to 1763
Image
The colony prospered. Tobacco—grown by indentured servants and enslaved Africans—sustained the economy. The first popularly elected legislative body in the New World was established. Following the failed Indian uprising in 1622 and on orders from London, the native peoples were “removed” and reduced in number to 3,000 by a “War of Extermination.” During the next hundred years, the remainder of Virginia’s population expanded a hundred fold. Social inequalities, however, and frontier conflicts with the French and with Indians made this distant dominion increasingly difficult to govern from London.
Time Period
1877 to 1924
Image
After the Civil War, Virginia remained largely rural, but Virginians embraced economic development and the new technologies that were revolutionizing everyday life. At the same time, however, they resisted political and social change––especially racial and gender equality. Living standards improved and income rose, but the political system became less democratic and society was rigidly segregated by race. “The New South” brought economic renewal but little reform. The Virginia legislature rejected a woman’s right to vote in 1919, and it passed a regressive Racial Integrity Act in 1924.
Exhibition
A Better Life for Their Children
Image
From 1912-37, the Rosenwald schools program built thousands of schools, shops, and teacher’s homes across 15 Southern...
Exhibition
Agents of Change
Image
Organized in conjunction with the statewide Women’s Suffrage Centennial, this exhibition featured artifacts from the...
Article Set - Chapter
Beginnings of Black Education
Few black Virginians received a formal education until public schools were widely established during Reconstruction. Public
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
Article Set - Chapter
Conclusion
Throughout the twentieth century and during the past decade, apologists for John Brown have turned out imagery and
Article Set - Chapter
Copies and Adaptations of de Bry
For more than two centuries, the 1590 engravings of Virginia Indians by de Bry and van Veen were copied for other
Exhibition
Determined
Image
This exhibition examined the long history of black Americans in North America as they have fought for freedom, equal...
Article Set - Chapter
Elections from 1876 to 1920
This section contains information and memorabilia on the elections from 1876 to 1920. Scroll down the page to learn more
Article Set - Chapter
Fanciful Figures
View illustrations of Virginia Indians as they were imagined by artists.
Article Set - Chapter
Fitzhugh Family
The colonial history of Stafford and King George counties—and thus of northern Virginia—is inseparable from that of the large
Exhibition
Founding Frenemies
Image
This exhibition explored Alexander Hamilton’s relationships with the founding generation of Virginians through rare...
Article Set - Chapter
Gordon Family
The Gordon portraits depict the family of an Ulster merchant and planter of Scottish origin who emigrated to Lancaster County
Article Set - Chapter
Hampton Institute and Booker T. Washington
Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute was founded in 1868 by General Samuel Armstrong. He was interested in moral
Exhibition
Inside Looking Out
Image
The first exhibition of its kind in that it displays nearly all of artist Queena Stovall’s work in one place, this...
Article Set - Chapter
Interpreting Historical Images
A historical image can be interpreted in a number of ways. Each approach brings a different set of considerations, or frame
Article Set - Chapter
Invented Scenes for Narratives
When artists were hired to illustrate written accounts of events in Virginia, they did not aim to make realistic
Exhibition
John Marshall
Image
Highlighting objects like his Law Commonplace Notebook, spectacles and inkwell, writing desk, and even his hair, this...