The 2013 film 12 Years a Slave adapted the historical memoirs of Solomon Northup, a free African American from New York who was kidnapped and…
McKenzie LongApril 7, 2021
Given the current coronavirus health crisis, processing a small collection of Chesterfield County smallpox epidemic records from the 19th century seemed to be a timely…
Tracy HarterApril 22, 2020
While processing some City of Richmond court records from the Civil War era, I came across the remarkable narrative of a mother named Martha Hobson.…
Greg CrawfordMay 8, 2019
During the night of 23 April 1829, six African American men made a daring escape from the Norfolk County jail. One of them was William…
Brent TarterMarch 6, 2019
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC) and the Library of Virginia are cooperating to provide greater access to African American history and genealogy…
Greg CrawfordFebruary 21, 2019
The Library of Virginia employs both reference archivists and processing archivists. Reference archivists work exclusively with the public—the Library’s front line. Processing archivists work behind-the-scenes…
Callie FreedJanuary 24, 2019
In the past few months, I have examined dozens of boxes of unprocessed Pittsylvania County court records dating back to the 1760s, searching for chancery…
Greg CrawfordSeptember 19, 2018
On 23 August 1831, Governor John Floyd received a hastily written note from the Southampton County postmaster stating “that an insurrection of the slaves in…
Sonya ColemanOctober 12, 2016
Pocahontas Island is a peninsula in the Appomattox River incorporated as part of the City of Petersburg in 1784. The small town became home to…
Louise JonesMay 25, 2016
In 1820, Rachel Findley won freedom for herself and more than 35 of her descendants in a Powhatan County court in a law suit dating…
Greg CrawfordFebruary 3, 2016
What does it mean to be free? Some might define freedom as having no obligations to a particular thing or person. A free person cannot…
Sherri BagleyDecember 2, 2015
The Library of Virginia has completed the digitization and transcription of the last of the cohabitation registers in its possession, the Henry County Cohabitation Register,…
Sonya ColemanFebruary 26, 2014
While watching the February 2012 episode of NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? featuring actor and Petersburg native Blair Underwood investigating his family history, Library of…
Sarah NerneyMarch 27, 2013
In November of 1860, executor William F. Smith was in a pickle. Charged with settling the estate of Elizabeth P. Via of Augusta County, he…
Sarah NerneyFebruary 20, 2013
