VIRGINIANA
While processing collections, Library archivists spend many hours pouring over collections, researching the people whose papers they are examining, in an effort to understand more fully the circumstances, people, events, and places that influence the creation of a body of materials. Archivists began sharing with Library staff the stories they discovered while working with the collections. Virginia Memory makes these stories available to the public through this offering, Virginiana. Check back regularly for new additions.
A Brief History of the Public Privy on Capitol Square
When we think of Capitol Square, it conjures up visions of Thomas Jefferson's venerable Capitol on the hill, Alexander Parris's elegant Executive Mansion, and Arthur S. Brockenbrough's public privy. Well, maybe not the latter, but to the ordinary visitor of Capitol Square in the early nineteenth century it was equally important. more »
CSI: Old Virginia: Scenes of Murder and Mayhem in the Local Government Records Collection
The beautiful maps in the Voorhees collection and those that reside in Special Collections are well known to Library of Virginia researchers. Yet thousands of rough but informative maps exist in the Library's local government records collection. Often classified as "plats," these detailed property maps were created and filed as part of county land records, chancery records, or other legal proceedings. more »
Funeral Home Records Document Richmond's Citizenry
Acquired in the late summer of 1993, the L. T. Christian Funeral Home records rested on the shelves of the fourth floor stacks as an untapped historical and genealogical resource until processing of the collection began earlier this year. The collection consists of approximately 43 cubic feet of records pertaining to the funeral and burial services provided by the still extant company for decedents from circa 1912 until 1986. Processing of the records of this premier Richmond, Virginia, funeral parlor will conclude later this summer, and an accompanying online database will allow patrons and staff to quickly locate any decedent's file in the collection. more »
Spinnin' On Top of the World
Ever been on vacation and experienced weather so bad that it traps you in your hotel room? Know that feeling of a desperate urge for a change of scenery? If Richmond architect Haigh Jamgochian (1924- ) had had his way, visitors to one proposed hotel in Virginia Beach would have enjoyed a new view every hour. No, he didn't plan to organize a huge game of "musical rooms" by having guests periodically change their accommodations. Rather, he planned for the hotel buildings to revolve. The rationale was simple even if the engineering was not. The hotels, like the dock of a departing ocean liner, would themselves become a destination. Tourists would visit the area just to see these wonders, thus benefiting the entire local economy rather than just the specific hotel. more »
A Morning Not Unlike Any Other Morning
December 7th marks a "day that will live in infamy" for one Richmond family. However, the year was not 1941, but 1955. On that day, at approximately 9:23 am, the three small children of Benjamin Dennis III and his wife Jean were upstairs in their Windsor Farms home watching Captain Kangaroo, a children's program that had debuted two months earlier. Minutes later, flames shot out the windows of their home. A U.S. Navy Banshee fighter jet had crashed outside their house, twenty-five feet from where the children were happily watching television. more »
Murder At The Second Market
The following story was gleaned from a case book found in the Western State Hospital collection (Accession 41404). Included in this volume are approximately twenty pages of physician's entries, as well as a copy of the commitment order, a letter to the court, and several Richmond Dispatch newspaper articles relating to Mrs. Anne E. Kirby. Some of the dates and information are conflicting, but I have done my best to present the story as accurately as possible, well aware of the sometimes questionable nature of 19th century journalism and the possibility of human error within the case book entries. more »
Presley Neville O'Bannon And The Marine Corps Sword
The United States Marine Corps abounds with tradition and history. An important aspect of this history and tradition revolves around Presley Neville O'Bannon and the Marine Corps sword. Over two hundred years ago, O'Bannon, a Virginian born in Fauquier County, became the first American to raise the United States' flag over foreign soil. more »