Library of Virginia

Library of Virginia The state's oldest institution dedicated to the preservation of Virginia's history and culture.
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in 1776, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution before the Continental Congress declaring the col...
06/07/2026

in 1776, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution before the Continental Congress declaring the colonies free and independent of Great Britain.

Congress postponed debate to allow delegates who were under instructions not to consent to independence to seek new instructions. Congress also appointed a committee of five men to compose a declaration that would explain and justify the need for independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

Congress approved Lee’s resolution on July 2 and adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Learn more about Lee in the Library’s Shaping the Constitution resource at https://www.lva.virginia.gov/collections/educator-resources/online-classroom/stc/people/richard-henry-lee-(1733-1794)

VA250 - American Revolution 250 Commission

06/06/2026

Today we honor D-Day. While the invasion of Normandy during WWII on June 6, 1944, usually termed D-Day, did not end the war in Europe, success on that day created a foundation for the Allied victory.

This diary kept by Douglas J. Raymond from Quebec, Canada, depicts his time off the coast of France from June 4 to June 24, 1944, while serving aboard the Royal Canadian Navy destroyer HMCS Saskatchewan at the time of the Normandy invasion.

Learn more of Raymond’s history and read the complete diary online at https://lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=01LVA_INST:01LVA&lang=en&docid=alma990016682200205756

The Library is saddened to hear about the passing of Beth Marschak. Beth was an activist for equal rights, a historian o...
06/05/2026

The Library is saddened to hear about the passing of Beth Marschak. Beth was an activist for equal rights, a historian of Richmond’s LGBTQ+ community and a strong supporter of the Library over the years. She attended many of the Library's events and always asked insightful questions, most recently showing her support for the opening of JXN Haus. She's pictured here at a First Fridays event and at a book talk in October of last year, both at the Library.

06/05/2026

In this virtual event recorded by the Library of Virginia, historian Brooke Newman discusses her latest book, “The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery.” The book uncovers the British monarchy’s deep entanglement in the transatlantic slave trade and colonial slavery, which includes King Charles III’s direct ancestor Edward Porteus, an enslaver who owned a to***co plantation in Virginia.

This and more LVA event recordings are on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/

June 5 is National Donut Day! Established in 1938, the day originally honored the Salvation Army’s “Donut Lassies” of Wo...
06/05/2026

June 5 is National Donut Day! Established in 1938, the day originally honored the Salvation Army’s “Donut Lassies” of World War I, who served donuts to soldiers on the front lines to boost morale. Later, the World War II Red Cross volunteers called “Donut Dollies” continued the tradition. Learn more about the “Donut Dollies” in this UncommonWealth blog post: https://uncommonwealth.lva.virginia.gov/blog/2024/01/03/red-cross-donuts/

Images show American Red Cross workers Margaret Lamb of Norfolk serving donuts in France and Lucy Shields of Farmville, Virginia, and Marion Deavor of Brevard, North Carolina, helping load planes with donuts in Sardinia, Italy.

The final episode of the television show “The Waltons” aired in 1981. Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the Great...
06/04/2026

The final episode of the television show “The Waltons” aired in 1981. Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the Great Depression and based on the semi-autobiographical novels of Nelson County native Earl Hamner Jr., the popular show ran for nine years. Shown here at right, with actor Richard Thomas (who played John-Boy Walton) at left, Hamner received the Library's Literary Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 from then Librarian of Virginia Sandra G. Treadway.

For the first 25 years of his life, Hamner was a Virginian, raised in Schuyler and attending college at the University of Richmond. He had this to say about his connections to the state: "I have not lived permanently in Nelson County since 1949, but a Virginian never really lives anywhere else." Hamner donated a collection of his personal papers to the Library of Virginia including correspondence; photographs; and film, radio and television scripts and screenplays connected to “The Waltons.”

Learn more in this UncommonWealth blog post: https://uncommonwealth.lva.virginia.gov/blog/2014/11/12/nelson-county-in-hollywood/

We’d like to extend a heartfelt welcome to our new "Transforming the Future of Libraries and Archives" interns! Through ...
06/04/2026

We’d like to extend a heartfelt welcome to our new "Transforming the Future of Libraries and Archives" interns! Through generous funding provided to the Library of Virginia Foundation from EBSCO and the Universal Leaf Foundation, we are pleased to have awarded five paid internships this summer to college-level students from diverse backgrounds currently underrepresented in the library field. Each student will work on a specific project and participate in cohort learning sessions focused on the Library’s collections, research training and career opportunities in LAM (library, archive, museum) institutions.

Here are our "Transforming the Future of Libraries and Archives" 2026 summer interns (left to right).
Clara Jones is a recent Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) graduate in biology/chemistry and painting+printmaking/art history, Olivia Cottrell is a graduate from William & Mary with a degree in French studies, Dishawn Powell is a history major at VCU, Brianna Oxford is a criminal justice major at Hampton University and Tenaj Williams is a government and history double major at William & Mary.

Learn more about our internship opportunities at https://www.lva.virginia.gov/about/careers/internships

On this day in 1946, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia that racial segregation...
06/03/2026

On this day in 1946, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia that racial segregation in interstate travel was unconstitutional. The case arose from a 1944 incident during which Irene Morgan was arrested and fined for refusing to sit in the back of a bus en route from Gloucester County, Virginia, to Baltimore, Maryland. On appeal, she and her attorneys successfully argued that a Virginia law requiring racially separate seating did not apply to interstate commerce.

Learn more about this civil rights trailblazer in her Changemakers biography at https://www.lva.virginia.gov/collections/educator-resources/changemakers/items/show/44

Image: Posters submitted by 4th grade students as part of their 2012 nomination of Morgan for Strong Men & Women in Virginia History.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere these days, but how about in your public library? Our Library Development div...
06/03/2026

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere these days, but how about in your public library? Our Library Development division works with public library staff to provide training, education and support on a host of topics. It is unsurprising that AI has become one of those topics. Read more about AI in public libraries in today's The UncommonWealth.

https://uncommonwealth.lva.virginia.gov/blog/2026/06/03/ai-in-va-public-libraries/

Join us at noon on Wednesday, June 3, for a virtual reprise of historian Brooke Newman's talk about her latest book “The...
06/02/2026

Join us at noon on Wednesday, June 3, for a virtual reprise of historian Brooke Newman's talk about her latest book “The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery.” The book uncovers the British monarchy’s deep entanglement in the transatlantic slave trade and colonial slavery. With discussion ranging from the Tudor era to the reign of Queen Victoria, Newman shows how successive monarchs invested in, profited from and defended an imperial system built on racial slavery — and how the Crown’s silence continues to shape public memory to this day.

This event is part of the Library’s programming commemorating Virginia's role in the 250th anniversary of American independence. This is a free event, but registration is required at https://lva-virginia.libcal.com/event/16698005.

VA250 - American Revolution 250 Commission

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