Festivals and Fairs – The UncommonWealth

Newspapers

Random Reference: TurkeyFest – It’s a Festival for the Turkey!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I am sure some people are thinking about gathering together with family and friends around a big table where…

Amanda MorrellNovember 7, 2022

Education & Programming Virginia Authors

“Will your stock or your children carry off prizes at the Fair…?”

“Will your stock or your children carry off prizes at the Fair this fall, or will both?” This is the question asked in the 1923…

Library of VirginiaFebruary 18, 2022

Archives Newspapers

“Attractions and Amusements of Every Kind Will Be the Order of Things”: The History of the Virginia Colored State Fair

In late October 1910, thanks to the efforts of some of Richmond’s most prominent Black leaders, the “Colored State Fair” was held at the Virginia…

Kelley EwingOctober 1, 2021

Digital Projects Manuscripts & Special Collections

Echoes of Summer: Explore warm-weather recreation & attractions of the past in our digital collections

Editor's Note: A version of this article first appeared in Broadside, the magazine of the Library of Virginia, Issue No. 2, 2020. As we near…

Dana PugaAugust 18, 2021

Early 20th Century Entertainment Comes to Virginia in a Most Unusual Way

In the spring of 1905, a half-mile from the Norfolk city limits, the Boer War Spectacle (also called the Transvaal Spectacle or Anglo-Boer War Historical…

Callie FreedOctober 24, 2018

A Serendipitous Discovery: The Carson Family of Warren County

One afternoon in the Archives Research Room, senior reference librarian Zach Vickery requested several of the questionnaires that the Virginia War History Commission collected to…

Cara GriggsJuly 18, 2018

Newspapers

Soybeans and Beauty Queens: Newspaper Coverage of the Queens of the Crop

The Virginia Farm Bureau News has been the go-to publication for farming news since it first appeared in 1941. With articles like “Should Grades be ‘Beefed’…

Kelley EwingMarch 6, 2014

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