Posts – Page 16 – The UncommonWealth

The Wrong Deed

A common refrain in real estate is location, location, location. Sometimes however, the name is just as important, especially if the divine is involved. Such…

Sherri BagleyJuly 10, 2024

Public Libraries

Quiet Spaces in Loud Places

Roughly 20% of the population is neurodivergent, meaning that over 6,000 individuals in Halifax County, Virginia, have a neurodivergent condition. These children and adults had…

Your Local Public LibrarianJuly 8, 2024

Archives Education & Programming

Unfinished Business from the Bicentennial of Independence Left to the 250th Anniversary

I went to work in the Virginia State Library (now the Library of Virginia) on July 1, 1974, in the capacity of an assistant to…

Brent TarterJuly 5, 2024

Archives Digital Projects

“We Can Do It.”: Women Who Served in World War II

Watch some fireworks and turn on the barbeques, but let’s also celebrate by highlighting Virginia women veterans of World War II, helping protect our country…

Lauren CaravatiJuly 3, 2024

The Stacks Virginia Authors

New Books – June 2024

The Library of Virginia's first-floor lobby and Exhibition Gallery are open Monday-Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The second-floor Reading Rooms are open Tuesday-Friday, 9:00…

Donna PletcherJuly 1, 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 Digital Projects

Clarke County Chancery Causes Now Online

The Clarke County chancery causes, 1838-1912, have now been indexed, conserved, and digitized. They are freely accessible to researchers via the Chancery Records Index (CRI).Clarke…

Vince BrooksJune 24, 2024

Newly-Available Archival Accessions, January 1- March 31, 2024

The Library of Virginia maintains the most comprehensive collection of information about Virginia’s history, culture, and government. We hold more than 200 million manuscript items,…

Trenton HizerJune 21, 2024

Education & Programming

Lessons from Lucyville

Now celebrated as a federal holiday, Juneteenth marks the date of June 19, 1865, when the Union Army arrived in Galveston and announced that the…

Guest ContributorJune 19, 2024

Education & Programming Highlights

Envisioning Ancestors with AI

On Saturday, February 10, 2024, the Library of Virginia hosted Envisioning Ancestors with AI, an image-generating workshop using historic records and free artificial intelligence tools…

Library of VirginiaJune 17, 2024

Archives Conservation The Stacks

Records Room Road Trips: More Day Trippin’

This past March marked the eight-year anniversary for my colleague, Tracy Harter, and myself in our positions as Circuit Court Records Preservation Program (CCRP) consulting…

Eddie WoodwardJune 12, 2024

Public Libraries

Preserve Your Memories at the Vinton Library

If we had to guess, you probably have boxes or drawers full of outdated media. Don’t worry, we do too! And we have a solution…

Your Local Public LibrarianJune 10, 2024

Education & Programming

Justice for Ourselves: Black Virginians Claim Their Freedom After Slavery

In December 1889, James A. Fields took his seat in Virginia's House of Delegates. He had escaped slavery as a young man, attended school behind…

Library of VirginiaJune 7, 2024

Archives The Stacks

“Yours in Utmost Disgust”: Desegregation Letters to the Governor of Virginia

How do archivists describe documents that reflect years of trauma and oppression with sensitivity? What if these documents are inflammatory letters written during an era…

Library of VirginiaJune 5, 2024

Archives Manuscripts & Special Collections Newspapers

“Every Other Interest was ‘Eclipsed'”: Norfolk’s Day in the Sun

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit family living in the path of totality for the solar eclipse on April 8. The day…

Nathan VerillaJune 3, 2024