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
The Alexandria Library Local History/Special Collections branch has a national reputation concerning Virginia history. Researchers not only use this collection when conducting genealogy and Civil…
Guest ContributorJanuary 24, 2025
African American Genealogist Selma Stewart can remember the time she came to the Library of Virginia to view the “Free Negro Registers” in person in…
Lydia NeurothOctober 30, 2024
Recently I processed the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike Authority Records, 1954-1983 , documenting the building of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike from 1955 to 1958. The collection is arranged…
Renee SavitsOctober 9, 2024
The Library of Virginia maintains the most comprehensive collection of information about Virginia’s history, culture, and government. We hold more than 200 million manuscript items,…
Trenton HizerSeptember 6, 2024
Crispus Attucks, Peter Salem, James Lafayette. The first person to die in the American Revolution at the Boston Massacre, a soldier responsible for killing a…
McKenzie LongAugust 7, 2024
The Library of Virginia, like many similar institutions, has seen a large uptick in genealogical researchers interested in tracing their lines to Black families before…
Kevin ShupeJuly 15, 2024
A common refrain in real estate is location, location, location. Sometimes however, the name is just as important, especially if the divine is involved. Such…
Sherri BagleyJuly 10, 2024
Now celebrated as a federal holiday, Juneteenth marks the date of June 19, 1865, when the Union Army arrived in Galveston and announced that the…
Guest ContributorJune 19, 2024
In December 1889, James A. Fields took his seat in Virginia's House of Delegates. He had escaped slavery as a young man, attended school behind…
Library of VirginiaJune 7, 2024
On June 10, 1963, after months of peaceful protest of Danville’s segregationist policies and entrenched racism, the city's white police force, aided by deputized municipal…
Mary Ann Mason, They/ThemMay 29, 2024
Just like Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965, the Library of Virginia's Dictionary of Virginia Biography (DVB) went digital more…
Library of VirginiaDecember 6, 2023
Downtown Richmond seems to be perpetually under construction. The Library of Virginia has had several buildings downtown during its 200-year history and the 800 block…
Library of VirginiaOctober 16, 2023
In September 1935, the Richmond Times-Dispatch grabbed readers' attention with the dramatic headline, "Buckroe Fish Packer Now Devil's Nemesis." The feature provided an early glimpse…
John DealJuly 24, 2023
