Walter Plecker – The UncommonWealth

“She is supposed to be his daughter”: Making Historical Connections in Albemarle County

The Library of Virginia’s collections include a document titled “Surnames, by Counties and Cities, of Mixed Negroid Virginia Families Striving to Pass as ‘Indian’ or…

Caroline CollinsApril 25, 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

The Centennial of the Law to Preserve Racial Integrity

March 20th marks the centennial of Governor Elbert Lee Trinkle signing the Racial Integrity Act (RIA) into law. In simplistic terms, the RIA required every…

Ashley CraigMarch 20, 2024

Archives Newspapers

In Between: Japanese and Japanese Americans In Jim Crow Virginia

The Library of Virginia is closed to the public, but we can still observe Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month virtually! Let’s explore the…

Emma ItoMay 8, 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

Archives Education & Programming The Stacks

Why Research Family History?

Those born in Virginia (or those who have lived here for any length of time) will either nod approvingly or roll their eyes at this…

Gregg KimballApril 17, 2015