Jamestown – The UncommonWealth

Archives

Doctor, Poisoner, Governor, Rebel: John Pott, America’s “Founding Physician”

From the earliest days of America’s founding, we as a nation have sought heroes to help tell our story. Whether iconic leaders like Washington and…

Guest ContributorNovember 1, 2023

Archives

Virginia Untold: Lancaster County Fiduciary Records 1657-1872

CONTENT WARNING: Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and…

Greg CrawfordAugust 29, 2019

Education & Programming

Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding of the General Assembly of Virginia

The first meeting of the General Assembly of Virginia took place at the church building in Jamestown on 30 July 1619. The session lasted for…

Brent TarterJuly 30, 2019

Newspapers

There Be Great Witches Among Them: Witchcraft and the Devil in Colonial Virginia

Salem witch trials are among the most well-known instances of witchcraft in colonial America, but belief in witches was not limited to New England. The colonists…

Olin JohnsonOctober 26, 2017

Archives

It Came From YouTube!: the State Records Film Collection

Have you ever been curious about the birds who call Virginia home? Or wanted to explore the history of Richmond? Or maybe take a closer…

Paige NealOctober 11, 2017

Archives

"Lord Have Mercy! There is a ‘Reefer Man’ in Here!"

In the early morning hours of 31 May 1936, Margaret Jacobs was awakened by a “lumbering in the kitchen.” She awoke to find the lights…

Mary Dean CarterJanuary 25, 2012

Archives

That’s Some Magic Bullet: Thirty-Eight Years After Revolutionary War, Bullet Exits Louisa Man’s Arm. Surfaces in Library’s Vault

Edward Houchins, a veteran of Captain Edmund Curd’s Company of Goochland Militia, petitioned the General Assembly on 10 December 1818, requesting an increase in his forty-dollar-a-year…

Craig MooreAugust 18, 2010