Posts – Page 87 – The UncommonWealth

Archives

Man Caught by Husband with Drawers Down, Killing Ruled “Eminently Proper”

On the night of 4 August 1882, James M. Duesbury heard pistol shots coming from the nearby home of Christopher Goode and ran to see…

Mary Dean CarterAugust 1, 2012

Newspapers

“Stay Off the Cars”–The Boycott of the Virginia Passenger and Power Company

In 1902 Louisiana became the first to pass a statewide statute requiring mandatory segregation of streetcars, followed by Mississippi in 1904. That same year, Virginia…

Kelley EwingJuly 27, 2012

Archives

"The people here seem very fond of musick"

At first glance a chair maker, a musician, and a dancing master make a very strange trio. The June 1790 judgment papers for Capus vs. Kullin, found in…

Chris KolbeJuly 25, 2012

Archives Digital Projects

Surry Co. Cohabitation Register Goes Digital!

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce the addition of Surry County to the cohabitation register digitization project. This project, via the Virginia Memory website, aims to…

Sarah NerneyJuly 18, 2012

Archives

A Few of Our Favorite Things: Letterhead in the Archive Part 3

Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Co. letterhead found in Cumberland County Military and Pension Records, Civil War Issues, Barcode number 1156174 As promised in a…

Vince BrooksJuly 11, 2012

Archives

The Tri-State Gang in Richmond: Murder and Robbery in the Great Depression

Tomorrow historian Selden Richardson will speak at the Library of Virginia on his new book, The Tri-State Gang in Richmond: Murder and Robbery in the Great…

Roger ChristmanJuly 10, 2012

Newspapers

A Reliable Remedy–Medicinal Ads from Old Newspapers

Television and copy advertisements for prescription drugs are a common sight these days. But the obsession with finding the latest and greatest cure-all is nothing…

Kelley EwingJuly 5, 2012

Archives

July 4th Contest Decided in Local Court

The chancery causes we encounter usually involve disputes over lands, estates, and businesses, but occasionally we stumble upon cases that can only be categorized as…

Bari HelmsJune 27, 2012

Newspapers

100 Years Ago Today: Chaos at the Republican Convention

The ascension of Mitt Romney, though drawn out, is boring by comparison to the Republican Convention of 1912. The June 21, 1912 issue of the The Times Dispatch devoted…

Silver PersingerJune 21, 2012

Archives

I Scream, You Scream, We All Steal Ice Cream!

On the afternoon of 18 April 1924, an Imperial Ice Cream Company truck got stuck in the mud on the road between Winchester and Front…

Roger ChristmanJune 20, 2012

Newspapers

The Big Stone Post

The setting for John Fox Jr.’s 1908 novel Trail of the Lonesome Pine, Big Stone Gap in Wise County is situated along the Powell River…

Kelley EwingJune 18, 2012

Archives Digital Projects

Augusta Co. Chancery Reveals Pioneer Stories of Western Virginia

These words were written by a young lawyer who was researching court records filed in the Augusta County courthouse in the early 1830’s. He was…

Greg CrawfordJune 18, 2012

Newspapers

Newspaper Discovery Sends Shock Waves Through Subgenius Community

Sometimes while I’m preparing newspapers for microfilming, I come across interesting images, often I’ll take a photo on my phone and upload it to Facebook…

Silver PersingerJune 13, 2012

Manuscripts & Special Collections

This is the house that Jack built

Another presidential election year is upon us, and we are already bombarded with television ads touting the two candidates and proclaiming their positions on every…

Trenton HizerJune 13, 2012

Newspapers

Metro Virginia News/The Public Pamphlet Two Papers/Two Dynamos

An earlier posting promised some additional remarks about a pair of recent arrivals to the LVA/VNP microfilm collection: the Metro Virginia News and the Public Pamphlet of Leesburg,…

Henry MorseJune 8, 2012