December 26, 1902 was, by all appearances, a slow news day for the Staunton Spectator and Vindicator. The Virginia newspaper featured such prosaic headlines as…
Rebecca SchneiderFebruary 6, 2023
A public argument breaks out between several men on the topic of opiates. One, a physician, calls for greater restrictions on prescriptions to curb their…
Library of VirginiaSeptember 24, 2021
To vaccinate, or not to vaccinate? That has always been the question. It is particularly timely these days as people seek, or seek to avoid,…
Tracy HarterJune 16, 2021
When we began our careers at the Library of Virginia, in 1995 and 1999 respectively, there existed a stigma around certain types of records, especially…
Library of VirginiaApril 28, 2021
As a Library of Virginia volunteer, researching the Dictionary of Virginia Biography (DVB) has taken me into the lives of worthy but heretofore relatively unremarked,…
Leila ChristenburyMarch 10, 2021
This is an entry in our “Random Reference” series, which features interesting discoveries made and reference questions answered by our Archives & Library Reference Services…
Lisa WehrmannJanuary 4, 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
The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce the release of 100,343 emails from the administration of Governor Timothy M. Kaine (2006-2010). This latest batch…
Roger ChristmanJanuary 30, 2019
This is the latest entry in a series of blog posts spotlighting stories and records of Virginia’s involvement in World War I. Many collections in the Library…
Vince BrooksMarch 28, 2018
Occasionally, we ask guest writers to share information or stories about researching in our collections, public library programming or activities, and other topics which Library…
Guest ContributorSeptember 20, 2017
This is the latest entry in a series of blog posts spotlighting stories and records of Virginia’s involvement in World War I. The Council’s activities…
Vince BrooksJuly 12, 2017
If you read a newspaper from the late 19th century, you’re liable to be bombarded by various medical advertisements—treatments for catarrh, scrofula, and “watery-blood;” cure-alls like…
Anne McCreryJuly 29, 2015
With examples dating back to the 1750s, Norfolk County chancery causes offer an interesting set of solutions to some of the myriad problems associated with…
Callie FreedJuly 22, 2015
Before the Commonwealth of Virginia began officially recording vital statistics in 1853, many people recorded the births, deaths, and marriages in their families in the…
Tricia NoelApril 15, 2015
