Library of Virginia – The UncommonWealth

Archives Education & Programming Newspapers

Looking Back to Move Forward: Dr. Carter Woodson and the Commemoration of Black History

February 2026 marks the centennial of the first Negro History Week, established by Carter Godwin Woodson. The son of formerly enslaved parents, Woodson was born…

Library of VirginiaFebruary 11, 2026

Archives Education & Programming Manuscripts & Special Collections

Taking Office: Gubernatorial Inaugurations in Virginia

Editor’s Note: This blog post contains information from the Library of Virginia's 2001–2002 exhibition, "Taking Office: Inaugurations of Virginia's Governors," curated by Barbara Batson and…

Library of VirginiaJanuary 14, 2026

Education & Programming

“To Take Our Place in the Business World”: Jackson Ward’s Segregated Economy

House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History (July 17, 2025 – February 28, 2026) highlights the history of Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood and explores the…

Library of VirginiaDecember 15, 2025

Archives Education & Programming Manuscripts & Special Collections

Political Life in Virginia

Editor’s Note: This blog post contains information from a previous Library of Virginia exhibition, "A full vote, a fair ballot, and a free count": Political Life…

Library of VirginiaNovember 3, 2025

Archives Conservation

Attics and Basements and Bell Towers, Oh My!

The Circuit Court Records Preservation (CCRP) consulting archivists from the Library of Virginia routinely travel across the Commonwealth assisting the state’s 120 circuit court clerks’…

Library of VirginiaSeptember 17, 2025

An “Express Intention:” Marriage and Divorce Before the Loving Decision

Looking up at the justices of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals sitting behind their dark paneled bench, Richard and Mildred Loving heard the words…

Library of VirginiaMarch 3, 2025

Digital Projects The Stacks

Happy Birthday UncommonWealth!

In September of 2019, the Library of Virginia combined two previous blogs to create The UncommonWealth. Over 1,400 posts and 780,000 views later we have…

Library of VirginiaOctober 11, 2024

Archives Digital Projects Education & Programming Manuscripts & Special Collections

Transforming the Future of Libraries & Archives 2024

This summer the Library of Virginia was thrilled to welcome a cohort of six interns for the third year of our Transforming the Future of…

Library of VirginiaAugust 26, 2024

Archives The Stacks

A Quick Guide to Records Management

This post acts as a mini-FAQ on some of the essentials of records management in Virginia, including hot topics like physical storage, retention schedules, and…

Library of VirginiaAugust 14, 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

Education & Programming Highlights

Envisioning Ancestors with AI

On Saturday, February 10, 2024, the Library of Virginia hosted Envisioning Ancestors with AI, an image-generating workshop using historic records and free artificial intelligence tools…

Library of VirginiaJune 17, 2024

Education & Programming

Justice for Ourselves: Black Virginians Claim Their Freedom After Slavery

In December 1889, James A. Fields took his seat in Virginia's House of Delegates. He had escaped slavery as a young man, attended school behind…

Library of VirginiaJune 7, 2024

Archives The Stacks

“Yours in Utmost Disgust”: Desegregation Letters to the Governor of Virginia

How do archivists describe documents that reflect years of trauma and oppression with sensitivity? What if these documents are inflammatory letters written during an era…

Library of VirginiaJune 5, 2024

The Stacks

Taking the Helm: Librarian of Virginia Dennis T. Clark leads the agency into its third century

On Jan. 25, 2024, the first day of the Library of Virginia’s third century, Dennis T. Clark began his role as the 10th Librarian of…

Library of VirginiaApril 24, 2024

Highlights Newspapers The Stacks

Recently Discovered Photos Reveal Truth!

Archivists recently discovered a previously unknown photograph in some unprocessed Civil War-era state government records. The records concerned President Abraham Lincoln’s April 1865 visit to…

Library of VirginiaApril 1, 2024