Virginia State Penitentiary – The UncommonWealth

There’s Blood in the Salad Part II: The Clean Up

Editor's Note: This is part two of a two-part series. You can read the first part here. This case was grueling. What started as a…

Mary Ann Mason, They/ThemMarch 25, 2026

Archives

The Case of James D. Wise

Working as a reference archivist, we sometimes get that one phone call that really piques our interest. And once you get on the case, you…

Courtney ThompsonOctober 18, 2023

Archives

“Enticing, Advising, and Aiding…a Slave…to Abscond”

In October 1842, Cora Ann Elizabeth Carter and her husband William Watt Hubbard boarded the steamboat Patrick Henry en route for New York. Earlier that…

Lydia NeurothJuly 27, 2022

Digital Projects Newspapers

Virginia Chronicle Surpasses Two Million Pages!

The newspaper page count has officially surpassed two million on Virginia Chronicle! An array of new titles have been added to the Library’s growing digital…

Kelley EwingDecember 1, 2021

Archives The Stacks

Random Reference: What Happened to Uncle Harry?

The best thing about being a reference archivist is that every time you pick up the phone you have no idea what the question will…

Dawn TinnellJune 7, 2021

Archives

Mug Shot Monday: My Hometown Edition

Welcome to Mug Shot Monday! This is the latest entry in a series of posts highlighting inmate photographs in the records of the Virginia Penitentiary. John…

Roger ChristmanSeptember 24, 2018

Jacket of Application for Pardon of James Gibson, Charles Tosh

Archives

“A Frolicsome Freak of Boyhood”

Editor’s Note: The Library of Virginia, in partnership with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, sponsored four residential fellows for the 2016-2017 academic year to…

Guest ContributorJune 7, 2017

Archives

“Down in the shadow of the penitentiary:” the Closing of the Virginia Penitentiary

On Friday, 24 February, a new historical highway marker will be unveiled at the site of the former Virginia Penitentiary at the intersection of Belvidere…

Roger ChristmanFebruary 22, 2017

Archives

Mug Shot Monday: Michael Bertone, No. 18654 and No. 21579

This is the latest entry in a series of posts highlighting inmate photographs in the records of the Virginia Penitentiary. Michael Bertone, the subject of this…

Roger ChristmanFebruary 6, 2017

Archives

Mug Shot Monday: Willie Williams, No. 17280

This is the latest entry in a series of posts highlighting inmate photographs in the records of the Virginia Penitentiary. Willie Williams’, the subject of this week’s post,…

Roger ChristmanJanuary 9, 2017

Archives

Mug Shot Monday: William H. Oehlert, No. 11708 and 17831

This is the latest entry in a series of posts highlighting inmate photographs in the records of the Virginia Penitentiary. William Oehlert had a lengthy criminal record,…

Roger ChristmanDecember 19, 2016

Archives

Mug Shot Monday: John Henry Green, No. 44916

This is the latest entry in a series of posts highlighting inmate photographs in the records of the Virginia Penitentiary. John Henry Green, known as the…

Roger ChristmanNovember 14, 2016

Archives

The Old Ball and Chain

In the colonial period, married Virginians had very few legal grounds for divorce. Over the years, though, standards loosened up a bit, and eventually the…

Vince BrooksJuly 13, 2016

Archives

Sterilization at the Virginia State Penitentiary

The genesis of this post came from reading Paul Lombardo’s 2009 book, Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court and Buck v. Bell. My…

Roger ChristmanMarch 4, 2015

Archives

Mug Shot Monday: Dr. Robert S. Fitzgerald, No. 38685

This is the latest entry in a series of posts highlighting inmate photographs in the records of the Virginia Penitentiary. Dr. Robert S. Fitzgerald, the subject of…

Roger ChristmanOctober 20, 2014