Posts – Page 8 – The UncommonWealth

Archives

Whatever Happened to Virginia’s Black Patriots? Stories from the Declarations for Revolutionary War Pensions

Crispus Attucks, Peter Salem, James Lafayette. The first person to die in the American Revolution at the Boston Massacre, a soldier responsible for killing a…

McKenzie LongAugust 7, 2024

Archives Manuscripts & Special Collections

Ride the Waves! Fight Pirates! In the Oyster Navy!

Virginia’s Tidewater region has long been associated with the U.S. Navy, but did you know that the Commonwealth also had an Oyster Navy? Better yet,…

Vince BrooksAugust 5, 2024

Newspapers

Breaking News for Virginia Chronicle!

Several new newspapers were added to Virginia Chronicle in May, bringing the newspaper page count to over 4.3 million! Recent additions include community weeklies, additional…

Kelley EwingJuly 31, 2024

The Stacks Virginia Authors

New Books – July 2024

The Library of Virginia's first-floor lobby and Exhibition Gallery are open Monday-Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The second-floor Reading Rooms are open Tuesday-Friday, 9:00…

Donna PletcherJuly 29, 2024

Archives

Distributing the Law

Recently I came across a collection from the Secretary of the Commonwealth that was still folded and in its original boxes. It seems that no…

Renee SavitsJuly 24, 2024

Archives Conservation The Stacks

Records Rooms Road Trips: Day Tripping Through May

Regular readers of The Uncommonwealth may notice that blogs for Records Rooms Road Trips are published about every three weeks, alternating between the experiences of…

Tracy HarterJuly 22, 2024

Archives Education & Programming

The Impact of the Act to Preserve Racial Integrity on Virginia’s Indigenous Tribes

March 20, 1924, is a moment in Virginia’s history when the governor, the General Assembly, state officials, and some in the general public believed that…

Ashley CraigJuly 17, 2024

Archives

Finding Connections in African American Genealogy: The Bressie Family of Norfolk County

The Library of Virginia, like many similar institutions, has seen a large uptick in genealogical researchers interested in tracing their lines to Black families before…

Kevin ShupeJuly 15, 2024

Archives

The Wrong Deed

A common refrain in real estate is location, location, location. Sometimes however, the name is just as important, especially if the divine is involved. Such…

Sherri BagleyJuly 10, 2024

Public Libraries

Quiet Spaces in Loud Places

Roughly 20% of the population is neurodivergent, meaning that over 6,000 individuals in Halifax County, Virginia, have a neurodivergent condition. These children and adults had…

Guest ContributorJuly 8, 2024

Archives Education & Programming

Unfinished Business from the Bicentennial of Independence Left to the 250th Anniversary

I went to work in the Virginia State Library (now the Library of Virginia) on July 1, 1974, in the capacity of an assistant to…

Brent TarterJuly 5, 2024

Archives Digital Projects

“We Can Do It.”: Women Who Served in World War II

Watch some fireworks and turn on the barbeques, but let’s also celebrate by highlighting Virginia women veterans of World War II, helping protect our country…

Lauren CaravatiJuly 3, 2024

The Stacks Virginia Authors

New Books – June 2024

The Library of Virginia's first-floor lobby and Exhibition Gallery are open Monday-Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The second-floor Reading Rooms are open Tuesday-Friday, 9:00…

Donna PletcherJuly 1, 2024

Archives Digital Projects

Like Mother, Like Son

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

Archives Digital Projects

Clarke County Chancery Causes Now Online

The Clarke County chancery causes, 1838-1912, have now been indexed, conserved, and digitized. They are freely accessible to researchers via the Chancery Records Index (CRI).Clarke…

Vince BrooksJune 24, 2024