Native American and Indigenous History

Newspapers

“Columbia’s Roll Call”: Hampton Institute’s 1892 Pageant & the Native American Struggle for Citizenship

When I first arrived at the Library of Virginia for my summer internship in public history, I was given two projects: to write a biography…

Jessica VigilJanuary 5, 2026

Newspapers

Breaking [Old] News!

With nearly fifty titles recently added to Virginia Chronicle, there is a wealth of new historical newspaper content to explore. Community weeklies and dailies; military,…

Kelley EwingDecember 10, 2025

Manuscripts & Special Collections

Picturing Family

Editor’s Note: A version of this article first appeared in Broadside, the magazine of the Library of Virginia, Issue No. 1, 2024. Whether displayed on household…

Dale NeighborsJune 11, 2025

Archives Education & Programming The Stacks

Records of a Paper Genocide

Editor's Note: Nora Birchett interned as part of the Library's Transforming the Future of Libraries and Archives Program in the Summer of 2024. She worked with…

Nora BirchettNovember 13, 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 Education & Programming Newspapers

Indigenous Education in Virginia

As soon as English colonizers established themselves in Virginia, one of their main concerns was the education of Indigenous people. The education implemented by the…

Ashley CraigApril 17, 2024

Digital Projects Education & Programming The Stacks

Digital Milestone: How the Dictionary of Virginia Biography Learned to Love the Internet

Just like Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965, the Library of Virginia's Dictionary of Virginia Biography (DVB) went digital more…

Library of VirginiaDecember 6, 2023

Archives Education & Programming The Stacks

Behind the Scenes of the Indigenous Perspectives Exhibit

Indigenous Perspectives seeks to place the voices and experiences of Virginia’s tribal communities at the center of an active examination of the Library of Virginia’s…

Ashley CraigDecember 1, 2023

Archives Education & Programming

Why They Served: Indigenous Veterans of Virginia

Indigenous people of the United States have participated in every war or military conflict in our country’s history. While Indigenous people have served in the…

Ashley CraigNovember 10, 2023

Archives Digital Projects Education & Programming The Stacks

Native American Resources

November is Native American Heritage Month and the perfect time to highlight resources in the Library of Virginia’s collections that can help users gain insight…

Lisa WehrmannNovember 6, 2023

Education & Programming Virginia Authors

Naming Our Common Ground

In A Brave and Cunning Prince, James Horn questions accepted narratives regarding 17th-century Virginia as he traces the life of Opechancanough, the brother of Chief…

Library of VirginiaMarch 18, 2022

Archives Manuscripts & Special Collections

National Native American Heritage Month

As the original inhabitants and caretakers of the land known today as Virginia, the influence of indigenous communities on the land, history, and culture of…

Vince BrooksNovember 1, 2021

Archives Highlights

The Veney family of the Northern Neck: Sarah’s Story

Around 1712, two women were transported by ship to Virginia’s Northern Neck. The elder was named Mary and the younger Bess, who was about 13…

Greg CrawfordJune 2, 2021

Education & Programming

Unfinished Business: Indigenous Voters in Virginia

This blog post is being written on the lands of Virginia’s Indigenous people, Cheroenhaka (Nottoway), Chickahominy, East Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Monacan, Nansemond, Nottoway, Pamunkey, Patawomeck, Upper…

Ashley CraigNovember 4, 2020

Who Do You Love?: Race and Marriage in Virginia Before the Loving Decision

Virginia’s marriage license requirements recently made the national news, and the state’s complicated history with racial classification is part of that conversation. Various records held…

Vince BrooksSeptember 16, 2019