Library of Virginia

The Library of Virginia wishes you Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas! This image of a vintage holiday card is from the Library's "Holiday Cards" Pinterest board. https://lnkd.in/eSfpZwA9

We wish you good cheer on Christmas Eve! Image: A holiday card from the Library's Visual Studies Collection.

The holiday season is often a reflective time. Today's post from The UncommonWealth focuses on an item with little monetary value, but great emotional value, and explores how archival records enhance its story. https://lnkd.in/esJRWkZR

The Library of Virginia's exhibition "Mapping the Commonwealth, 1816-1826" on display through June 7, 2025, explores the story of 10 years, five governors, two principal surveyors and one lead engraver — the time frame and team needed to create one of the first official state maps in the nation. In this episode of In the Gallery, Cassandra Farrell, senior map archivist for the Library of Virginia, discusses the creation and included details of the individual maps for each county in Virginia that were used to produce the state map. View more about "Mapping the Commonwealth, 1816-1826" online at https://lnkd.in/ez6A6Tvz

Librarian of Virginia Dennis T. Clark and John Metz, the Library’s deputy for collections and programs, attended the meeting of Virginia's Electoral College in the House Chamber of the Virginia State Capitol earlier this week to receive the original Certificate of Vote from the electors. The record will be added to the Commonwealth's archives at the Library of Virginia. At the event they also displayed a copy of the 1789 Electoral College certificate certifying George Washington's election as president. The historic document is pictured here. All extant records of Virginia's Electoral College (1789–2020) have been digitized and are available to view here: https://lnkd.in/ermDxNJb

We're looking forward to tasty coffee and treats starting next month from a new cafe in our lobby! Read more about WHISK coffee shop and bakery in this Richmond BizSense article. https://lnkd.in/eW8TqG_a

John Deal, editor, shares a little bit about himself and why your support is critical to helping the Library preserve and share Virginia’s history, government and culture. Please consider making a gift today at https://lnkd.in/eFSn_HJG. #archives #thisisLVA #familyhistory #VirginiaHistory #loveyourlibrary

Make History with LVA! Become a volunteer transcriber in 2025 through the Making History with LVA program. The Library acquires, preserves and promotes access to unique collections of Virginia’s history and culture. With more content and research moving online, we work hard to make our digital documents accessible. Volunteers like you can transcribe handwritten pages and historical newspapers by reading the text online and typing it into digital form to help make these historical documents more searchable and usable for researchers. The Library offers both virtual and in-person sessions each month to share information about our collections and teach volunteers how to get started. So whether you want to log in from home or join a group here at the Library, you can help us enhance access to over 400 years of Virginia history. View and register for the Making History events at https://lnkd.in/eSxsGsmG and https://lnkd.in/e4PkQmWD. #volunteer #archives #VirginiaHistory #thisisLVA

While Wood and Bőÿe received the lion's share of the praise for creating the 1826 Virginia map, many civil engineers and surveyors contributed to the effort. New research is just beginning to uncover more about them. Read about some of the discoveries in today's The UncommonWealth. https://lnkd.in/exewctEU #MappingTheCommonwealth #VirginiaHistory #cartography #maps

Thank you to the Richmond Times-Dispatch for sharing the news about Whisk cafe coming to our lobby in January! https://lnkd.in/ewD_PcUC #downtownRVA #coffee #lunch #foodie #thisisLVA