Coroners’ Inquisitions – The UncommonWealth

The Coroners’ Inquisitions Digital Collection is Now Live & Available for Transcription

Given the popularity of true crime documentaries, movies, and podcasts, it’s not surprising that researchers have likewise found the Library of Virginia’s Coroners’ Inquisitions a…

Mary Ann Mason, They/ThemSeptember 4, 2024

Archives Conservation Digital Projects

Virginia Untold: Looking Back and Moving Forward

Editor's Note: Neither Virginia Untold nor Virginia Untold Project Manager Lydia Neuroth is going anywhere, but as we transition out of our two-year NHPRC grant…

Lydia NeurothJune 28, 2023

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Adultery and Murder: A Bedford County Coroner’s Inquisition

On an August night in 1882, Adam Wilkerson returned to his Bedford County home to an unpleasant surprise. When he pushed the door open, he…

Mary Dean CarterJuly 25, 2018

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"The Body of an Infant There and Then Laying Dead”: Infanticide in Coroner’s Inquisitions At The Library of Virginia

Editor’s Note: The Library of Virginia, in partnership with Virginia Humanities, sponsors residential fellows during the academic year to conduct in-depth research in the Library’s…

Kristen GreenJune 27, 2018

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“I Could Not Tell Who Was Shooting”: The Death of Lump Moore

When Petersburg’s coroner filled out the death certificate for farmer Lump Moore, he wrote a simple “no” in answer to the question, “Was disease or…

Meghan TownesJune 28, 2017

Archives Digital Projects Education & Programming

Forsaken: The Digital Bibliography

In his debut novel, Forsaken, Ross Howell Jr. tells the story of an uneducated African American servant, Virginia Christian, who was tried for killing her white employer…

Roger ChristmanMarch 3, 2016

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Have You Seen The Vigilante Man?: Reconstruction Era Violence

Life for African Americans in Virginia following the end of the Civil War can be described as uncertain at best. As the social balance between…

Chris SmithSeptember 16, 2015

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Hampton Coroner Records Reveal Social History

Dr. Paul Parker, medical examiner of Elizabeth City County, Virginia, wrapped up a 19 April 1935 coroner’s inquest by ruling that “Dorothy McGaha Reeves came…

Vince BrooksDecember 18, 2014

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The Jury’s Gut Feeling: Bedford County Coroner’s Inquisitions

A recent episode of BackStory With the American History Guys entitled “On The Take” addressed the topic of corruption in American politics and government. Host Brian Balogh interviewed…

Mary Dean CarterSeptember 3, 2014

Digital Projects

Come On, Make Some History!

We’re happy to announce that Making History: Transcribe is now live! This site will enable users to transcribe documents in the Library of Virginia collections in…

Sonya ColemanAugust 19, 2014

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The Razor’s Edge: Using the Coroner’s Inquests in Elizabeth City County

Editor’s Note: Jerry Hunt is a graduate history intern from Virginia Commonwealth University and is working on processing and indexing Depression-era coroner’s inquisitions from Elizabeth…

Guest ContributorAugust 6, 2014

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Magic Lantern After-Show Turns Deadly

Sometimes what starts out in fun can turn into a deadly accident. That’s exactly what happened on 5 September 1894, in Bedford County, Virginia, when…

Mary Dean CarterMarch 26, 2014

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Death by Eggnog

During the holiday season we are warned to avoid overindulgence. There are many temptations around this time of year—turkey and stuffing, grandma’s pecan pie, and,…

Mary Dean CarterDecember 20, 2013

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Arsenic, Lies, and Bigamy

Cornbread and cabbage turned lethal for one Petersburg woman, but it was another woman’s need for some chicken feed that exposed the death as something…

Mary Dean CarterAugust 7, 2013

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Murder Most Fowl

On 17 April 1875, Anna Williams of 313 Canal Street in Richmond heard a noise and went outside to investigate only to discover a plank…

Mary Dean CarterApril 3, 2013