Virginia Untold – The UncommonWealth

Archives

Finding Peter Crippen’s People

Back in January, we made a new connection with the Huntington African American Museum in New York. Executive Director & Chief Curator Tiarra Brown reached…

Lydia NeurothApril 29, 2026

Archives Digital Projects Education & Programming

A Moment of Reflection for Black History Month

One hundred years ago this month, Dr. Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week which, decades later, became Black History Month. Since 1968, February has…

Lydia NeurothFebruary 25, 2026

Archives Digital Projects

“Inquiring of a family by the name of King”: Seeking Family after the Civil War

On June 18th, 1882, a woman from wrote from Corinth, Mississippi to the sheriff in Mecklenburg County, Virginia requesting the man’s “kined atenchen ” to…

Lydia NeurothJanuary 7, 2026

Archives

“Who is the mother of said Catherine”: Finding Families in Virginia Untold

This past summer, I was asked to present at the Lemon Project Summer Sankofa Genealogy Workshop held at William & Mary’s Swem Library. As I…

Lydia NeurothNovember 12, 2025

Archives Digital Projects

A Virginia Untold Update

In today’s blog post, I want to share some new material available in Virginia Untold, the Library’s digital project featuring records of enslaved and free…

Lydia NeurothAugust 27, 2025

Digital Projects Education & Programming

Fugitive Data Portraits: Self-Emancipation in Virginia

Richard Slaughter was born on January 9, 1849, on Eppes Island in City Point, Virginia. He and his family were enslaved by Richard Eppes until…

Tev'n PowersAugust 20, 2025

Archives

Freed From the Archives: The Life of Emanuel Jones of Surry

In January 2025, Mr. Thomas Baxter reached out to Virginia Untold Project Manager Lydia Neuroth to share about research he had conducted on an enslaved…

Guest ContributorJune 25, 2025

Archives Manuscripts & Special Collections

Searching for Nelly, Harriet, and Juno – Part 2

In my February blog post I promised to follow-up with a particular discovery in the case of three women who self-liberated from their enslavers in…

Lydia NeurothApril 30, 2025

Archives Digital Projects

“Getting no intelligence of them”: Stories of Fugitives from Slavery

In the summer of 1826, Nelly and her two daughters Harriet and Juno took advantage of a rare opportunity. While their enslavers, Notley Williams and…

Lydia NeurothFebruary 26, 2025

Archives Conservation Digital Projects

Hittin’ the Road, Virginia Untold Style

In early December, I traveled to Southwest Virginia to continue our work digitizing “Free Negro Registers” for Virginia Untold. We’ve previously written about our digitization…

Lydia NeurothJanuary 22, 2025

Archives Digital Projects

“Tenths of an Inch”: Examining a 19th-Century Object on the Eastern Shore

African American Genealogist Selma Stewart can remember the time she came to the Library of Virginia to view the “Free Negro Registers” in person in…

Lydia NeurothOctober 30, 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

Archives Conservation Digital Projects The Stacks

CCRP Records Rooms Road Trips: Teaming up with Virginia Untold

My first three locality visits this season also involved traveling with my colleague and Virginia Untold project manager Lydia Neuroth. While my visits pertained specifically…

Tracy HarterMay 22, 2024

Archives Digital Projects

“Your Humble Petitioner”: William Caswell’s Success Against the Odds

Katie Drash Mapes, history graduate student at VCU and museum educator with Preservation Virginia, shares what she discovered about William Caswell, a free Black man,…

Guest ContributorMay 20, 2024

Archives

Stolen Coats, Stolen Freedom

In July 1813, a Black man named Roger was charged in the Richmond City Hustings Court with stealing a “Sourtaurt great coat.” I was not…

Lydia NeurothFebruary 28, 2024