Profiles of Honor – The UncommonWealth

Permission to Explore: World War II Sight-Seeing

In the midst of World War II, some American men and women were lucky enough to experience fleeting moments of peace and safety where they…

Jessi BennettJune 15, 2026

Digital Projects

Dress Codes: The Work of Women in World War II

When Liza Mundy’s book Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II was published in October 2017, one…

Library of VirginiaSeptember 23, 2022

Digital Projects Manuscripts & Special Collections

What’s For Dinner?: Thanksgiving Menus Through the Ages.

E very year there are Americans who are not able to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with their families. Some of these individuals are members of…

Jessi BennettNovember 28, 2019

Manuscripts & Special Collections

“These are the Men Who Took the Cliffs”: Virginians on D-Day

Seventy-five years ago today, Allied forces landed on the Normandy beaches of France, launching the invasion that would push the Nazis out of France and…

Claire RadcliffeJune 6, 2019

Manuscripts & Special Collections

Then You Owe Me a Drink!: W. W. Poland’s WWII Short Snorter

Recently Susan Chiarello brought in a very unusual item to be scanned for the Virginia World War I/World War II Commission—her grandfather’s short snorter. Measuring…

Trenton HizerFebruary 28, 2018

Over The Top and at "em": 100 Years at Fort Lee

This is the latest entry in a series of blog posts spotlighting stories and records of Virginia’s involvement in World War I. Soon after the United States…

Claire RadcliffeJuly 7, 2017