Posts – Page 23 – The UncommonWealth

Archives

Good Witch or a Bad Witch?: The Grace Sherwood Trial and Pardon

Fall is in the air and Pumpkin Spice is everywhere (that includes my coffee). It’s October, the month of Halloween! I loved Halloween as a…

Amanda MorrellOctober 2, 2023

Digital Projects Manuscripts & Special Collections

Reopening the Vestry Records of St. John’s Church

So begins the first entry in the oldest surviving volume from the Henrico Parish vestry records. That entry describes the meeting of six of the…

Guest ContributorSeptember 27, 2023

Virginia Authors

New Books – September 2023

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 PletcherSeptember 25, 2023

Education & Programming Newspapers

“For love and for life, we’re not going back”: LGBTQ+ History Month

"For Love and For Life, We’re Not Going Back.” These words appeared as the banner heading in the October 1987 issue of Richmond Pride above…

Mary Ann Mason, They/ThemSeptember 22, 2023

Archives

Records Room Road Trips: Early Summer Travels

As one of two CCRP consulting archivists, we alternate writing blog posts about our respective travel. This installment begins where my last one ended: early…

Tracy HarterSeptember 20, 2023

Archives

18th Century Multifactor Authentication

In today’s society, we are all familiar with the concept of multifactor authentication to enhance security and to protect against fraud. Historically, this was also…

Dawn TinnellSeptember 18, 2023

Archives

50 Years of Welcome

On March 23, 2023, I received an email reference request from Elaina Schramm, Executive Assistant to the Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs. Could the…

Roger ChristmanSeptember 15, 2023

Archives Digital Projects

Documenting Lynching in Virginia: A Transcription Project at James Madison University

Mob violence against perceived threats to a local community has been a staple of US history, with its long tradition of vigilantism and “popular justice,”…

Guest ContributorSeptember 13, 2023

Public Libraries

Public Libraries Supporting Military Families

In an increasingly digital world, it can sometimes be a challenge to find a place in a new community to connect with people and find…

Barry TrottSeptember 11, 2023

Newspapers

“Attend to the Morals of Your Child”: Mrs. E.P. Elam’s Family Christian Album (1855-1856)

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of blog posts regarding Virginia female newspaper editors by our Transforming the Future of Libraries and…

Elena CarioSeptember 6, 2023

Education & Programming

One Small Step

StoryCorps, a groundbreaking oral history organization, has given over 640,000 Americans across all 50 states the chance to record conversations about their lives and preserve…

Guest ContributorSeptember 1, 2023

Archives

The Crime of Going at Large

In June 1800, an enslaved man named Bob was apprehended and jailed in the city of Richmond. Bob was not from the capital city. He…

Lydia NeurothAugust 30, 2023

Virginia Authors

New Books – August 2023

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 PletcherAugust 28, 2023

Archives Conservation The Stacks

Records Room Road Trips: Charlotte, Campbell, Pittsylvania, and Henry Counties

As we mentioned in the last installment for the “Records Room Road Trips” series, the spring and summer have brought more overnight stays as we’ve…

Eddie WoodwardAugust 23, 2023

Virginia Authors

“Incomplete, Unwritten, Unknown and Unrecorded”

Betty Kilby Baldwin and Phoebe Kilby’s joint memoir Cousins is told in the voices of two women—one Black, the other white—with a shared Virginia history.…

Rebecca SchneiderAugust 21, 2023