Although woman suffrage became part of the Constitution with the passage of the 19th Amendment, thousands of men and women in the United States were…
Claire RadcliffeOctober 28, 2020
Welcome to the new blog of the Library of Virginia, The UncommonWealth! As the Library of Virginia approaches its 200th birthday in 2023, it seemed…
Claire RadcliffeSeptember 25, 2019
Seventy-five years ago today, Allied forces landed on the Normandy beaches of France, launching the invasion that would push the Nazis out of France and…
Claire RadcliffeJune 6, 2019
Happy Valentine’s Day to our Out of the Box readers! Valentine’s Day is perhaps the most critiqued of any holiday for being “made-up,” but as…
Claire RadcliffeFebruary 14, 2019
One hundred years ago, on “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month,” representatives of Germany and the Allied forces met in…
Claire RadcliffeNovember 11, 2018
Happy Halloween! And what would Halloween be without Virginia's very own master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe? Check out these illustration from different editions…
Claire RadcliffeOctober 31, 2018
This Service Song Book, which was “Prepared for the Men of the Army and Navy,” was used by the YMCA at Camp Lee during World…
Claire RadcliffeApril 4, 2018
A passport is both a highly practical and importantly symbolic item. It provides not only identification but also identity, allowing the bearer to travel to…
Claire RadcliffeMarch 7, 2018
Happy Valentine’s Day from Out of the Box! Although today is meant to be a celebration of love and romance, not all valentine cards have…
Claire RadcliffeFebruary 14, 2018
True Sons of Freedom, a photographic exhibition at the Library of Virginia, explores the stories of Virginia's African American World War I soldiers. More than…
Claire RadcliffeJanuary 17, 2018
The holidays are an excellent time to eat, drink, and be merry. The soldiers training at Camp Lee (now Fort Lee) during World War I…
Claire RadcliffeDecember 20, 2017
National prohibition was officially repealed with the ratification of the 21st Amendment on 5 December 1933. Prohibition of the production and sale of alcoholic beverages…
Claire RadcliffeNovember 29, 2017
College students have never been known for their avoidance of alcohol, and it was no different in the 1930s, despite the fact that alcohol was…
Claire RadcliffeAugust 30, 2017
One of the hallmarks of the age of Prohibition is a certain level of contradiction. After all, the country was supposed to be entirely dry;…
Claire RadcliffeJuly 26, 2017