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Happy Virginia Archives Month 2025!

Everyone knows that October is spooky season– a time for campfires, warm cider donuts, and Archives Month! This year, archives and special collections from around…

Vince BrooksOctober 1, 2025

Archives Education & Programming

“From Whence They Came:” The Richard Forrester Family of Jackson Ward

In 1823, a mixed-race child named Richard Gustavus Forrester was born in Richmond to nineteen-year-old Gustavus Adolphus Myers, a member of one of the wealthiest…

Lee Ann TimreckSeptember 26, 2025

Education & Programming Manuscripts & Special Collections

London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Richmond: The Cosmopolitan Sensibility of the 1890 Lee Monument

Confederate monuments are often defended on the grounds that they provide an educational function. Both enthusiasts and critics of the Confederacy who take this position…

Donovan SchaeferSeptember 24, 2025

Digital Projects Education & Programming

Fugitive Data Portraits: Self-Emancipation in Virginia

Richard Slaughter was born on January 9, 1849, on Eppes Island in City Point, Virginia. He and his family were enslaved by Richard Eppes until…

Tev'n PowersAugust 20, 2025

Education & Programming

House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History

House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History (July 17, 2025 – February 28, 2026) highlights the history of Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood and explores the…

Ashley CraigAugust 18, 2025

Education & Programming

“A Fashionable Suit of Tar and Feathers”

One August day in 1775, Anthony Warwick found himself surrounded by a group of patriots angered by his refusal to stop importing and selling British…

Mari JulienneAugust 13, 2025

Archives Education & Programming Newspapers

“One of the Most Unique Papers”: Documenting Chinese American Citizenship in Virginia

On a Monday morning in May of 1903, six men waited in the Richmond federal courthouse to learn whether they would remain in Virginia or…

Jessi BennettMay 28, 2025

Archives Education & Programming Manuscripts & Special Collections

“A Very Excellent Trip” : Governor Linwood Holton’s Trade Mission to Japan and Australia

On April 12, 1972, at 11:00 a.m., Governor Linwood A. Holton and 24 representatives of Virginia’s state government and private businesses left from Richmond’s Byrd…

Cara GriggsMay 21, 2025

Education & Programming Manuscripts & Special Collections

“The best for military purposes of any map available”: The Ludwig von Buchholtz revisions to the Wood–Bőÿe map and the Civil War

Within a short time after it was published in 1826, John Wood’s and Herman Bőÿe’s map became outdated. The population growth of Virginia in the…

Peter NorthMay 19, 2025

Archives Education & Programming

Was the First Filipino American Citizen Naturalized in Norfolk County?

While working on records in the Naturalization Records Digital Collection, I came across one that made me stop and do a double-take. It was the…

McKenzie LongMay 14, 2025

Archives Education & Programming Virginia Authors

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2025

The Library of Virginia is observing Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! During the entire month of May, look for a display of books…

Cara GriggsMay 2, 2025

Digital Projects Education & Programming

Making History: Celebrating Student Transcribers for National Volunteer Week

Volunteering can deepen community connections and transform lives. In our Making History crowdsourcing program, Library of Virginia staff work with volunteers to transcribe historical documents…

Sonya ColemanApril 23, 2025

Education & Programming Manuscripts & Special Collections Newspapers

Navigating Methods of Map Making: A Feud Between Surveyors in the Enquirer

In February of 1816, the Virginia General Assembly approved an act for the overdue, expensive and laborious endeavor of creating the first state-funded Map of…

Kelley EwingApril 21, 2025

Education & Programming

Happy Birthday, Edna Lewis

“…the asparagus and wild greens and quail and tomatoes on the vines and little peas in spring and half runners in early summer and all…

Anne McCreryApril 16, 2025

Education & Programming

Virginia Roots Music: Creating and Conserving Tradition

Editor's Note: This blog post contains information from a previous Library of Virginia exhibition (2002–2003), Virginia Roots Music Creating and Conserving Tradition, developed by Barbara…

John DealMarch 5, 2025