The UncommonWealth – Voices from The Library of Virginia

The Marquis de Lafayette and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Revolutionary War

The Marquis de Lafayette's farewell tour of America in 1824–1825 inspired an unprecedented outpouring of affection for the aging hero…

Records Management

Clearing the Clutter: How to Host an Email Deletion Party

Deleting emails is often a mundane task everyone dreads doing, but it doesn’t have to be that way. This article explores ways to make email…

Emily JohnsonOctober 5, 2026

Finis: The End of the House of Burgesses

Editor's Note: A version of this article first appeared in Broadside, the magazine of the Library of Virginia, Issue No. 2, 2026. One of the…

Greg CrawfordSeptember 30, 2026

The Stacks Virginia Authors

New Books – September 2026

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…

Annie HattonSeptember 28, 2026

Manuscripts & Special Collections

Cutting Edge Art: Fore-Edge Paintings in Special Collections

Fifteen books in the Library of Virginia’s Special Collections are hiding a secret. Underneath their gilded pages hides a fascinating type of book art: a…

Amanda AllgoodSeptember 23, 2026

Black Lung Still Kills: Pneumoconiosis in the Commonwealth

When I clicked on a recent National Public Radio story about Black Lung disease in Appalachia, I expected the story to profile workers in West…

Vince BrooksSeptember 21, 2026

Education & Programming Newspapers

Who Owns the Story of Lottie Moon?

In the early 1960s, the Girls Auxiliary at First Baptist Church in Virginia Beach was popular with the congregation's parents. A national program founded by…

Leila ChristenburySeptember 16, 2026

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