In my February blog post I promised to follow-up with a particular discovery in the case of three women who self-liberated from their enslavers in…
Lydia NeurothApril 30, 2025
In early December, I traveled to Southwest Virginia to continue our work digitizing “Free Negro Registers” for Virginia Untold. We’ve previously written about our digitization…
Lydia NeurothJanuary 22, 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
Abimeleck is a name you don’t forget. So when Greg Crawford came across this name in records from the same region as the much-written-about Jane Webb—he…
Library of VirginiaJune 26, 2024
My first three locality visits this season also involved traveling with my colleague and Virginia Untold project manager Lydia Neuroth. While my visits pertained specifically…
Tracy HarterMay 22, 2024
Katie Drash Mapes, history graduate student at VCU and museum educator with Preservation Virginia, shares what she discovered about William Caswell, a free Black man,…
Guest ContributorMay 20, 2024
In July 1813, a Black man named Roger was charged in the Richmond City Hustings Court with stealing a “Sourtaurt great coat.” I was not…
Lydia NeurothFebruary 28, 2024
On the morning of July 23, 1856, ship mate Joseph Chadwick was sitting on the rail of the schooner Danville when he heard a strange…
Lydia NeurothDecember 20, 2023
In the excitement of completing our National Archives awarded NHPRC grant, securing a full-time project manager, not to mention participating the Library's 200th year anniversary, we…
Lydia NeurothOctober 25, 2023
In June 1800, an enslaved man named Bob was apprehended and jailed in the city of Richmond. Bob was not from the capital city. He…
Lydia NeurothAugust 30, 2023
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
Tamika Y. Nunley’s new book The Demands of Justice: Enslaved Women, Capital Crime, and Clemency in Early Virginia explores the impact of Virginia’s judicial system…
Library of VirginiaJune 19, 2023
About a year ago, we learned about a project from the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board (OHRAB) to document free people of color in Ohio.…
Lydia NeurothApril 26, 2023
In last month’s Virginia Untold blog post, we shared about the exhibition currently on display in our pre-function hall to celebrate Black History Month: “I…
Lydia NeurothFebruary 15, 2023
