The Road to Someplace Better: From the Segregated South to Harvard Business School and Beyond
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM–7:30 PM
Place: Conference Rooms,  FREE EVENT

Lillian Lambert will discuss and sign her new book, The Road to Someplace Better, the remarkable story of how she achieved the American dream. Lambert rose from humble beginnings as a poor farm girl in the segregated South to become the first black woman to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School and, later, the founder of a $20 million maintenance company with 1,200 employees. She relates the inspiring personal journey that took her from dead-end jobs to the world of entrepreneurship, as well as how her love of reading spurred her to reach her goals. Cosponsored by the Links, Inc., the Harvard Alumni of Richmond, the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, VMFA Community Affairs, and VMFA Friends of African and African American Art. A reception will follow the talk.

Closed
Friday, February 05, 2010—Saturday, February 06, 2010

All executive agencies in the metro Richmond area, including the Library of Virginia, will be closed at 1:00 PM Friday, February 5, 2010. The Library of Virginia will also be closed on Saturday, February 6, 2010.

Richmond Noir
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Time: Noon–1:00 PM
Place: Lecture Hall,  FREE EVENT

Join us for the launch of Richmond Noir, a collection of short stories by local authors, featuring editors Andrew Blossom, Brian Castleberry, and Tom De Haven, with contributors Laura Browder, Dennis Danvers, Dean King, and Meagan Saunders.

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Curator-led Tour of The Land We Live In, the Land We Left: Virginia’s People
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Time: Noon–12:45 PM
Place: Exhibition Gallery & Lobby,  FREE EVENT

Join curator Lisa Goff for an in-depth tour of the exhibition, which explores immigrants’ varied stories and their contributions to the state's increasingly diverse cultural composition. RSVP by February 8 to 804-692.-3901. Space is limited.

Closed
Saturday, February 13, 2010

George Washington Day weekend

LOBBY, READING ROOMS, AND STACKS WILL BE OPEN ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15. Someone will be in the main administrative offices, but otherwise Library staff offices will be closed.

Transforming Scriptures: African American Women Writers and the Bible
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Time: Noon–1:00 PM
Place: Conference Rooms,  FREE EVENT

Associate professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University and ordained minister Dr. Katherine Clay Bassard will discuss and sign her book Transforming Scriptures, which examines the work of African American women writers to explore their profound intellectual, even theological engagements with the Bible—the book that has been referred to as the “great code” of Western civilization. As the title indicates, these encounters with the Bible were, indeed, transformational, as black women writers both reshaped and were shaped by the scriptures they appropriated for their own self-representation. Cosponsored by the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, VMFA Community Affairs, and VMFA Friends of African and African American Art.

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Four American Presidents (But What Did They Have to Do with the Civil War?)
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Time: 9:30 AM–4:30 PM
Place: Lecture Hall

FEE: $35 (includes box lunch) for members of the Museum of the Confederacy and Library of Virginia donors; $50 for all others.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and John Tyler confronted issues and situations that presaged the dissolution of the Union in 1860–1861. This all-day symposium, sponsored by the Museum of the Confederacy and the Library of Virginia, will show how the thoughts and actions of four antebellum presidents help us better understand the coming of the Civil War. Reservations and pre-payment required. Contact 804-649-1861 x31 or library@moc.org.

Eight Ways to Accelerate Your Leadership Odyssey
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM–Noon
Place: Richmond Community High School and Franklin Military Academy

FREE EVENT for high school students, registration required. Call 804-371-2126.

Dr. Christopher Howard, Rhodes Scholar, recipient of Bronze Star, the first African American president of Hampden-Sydney College, and 2010 African American Trailblazer in Virginia History, will speak to high school students on leadership.

2010 African American Trailblazers in Virginia History
Monday, February 01, 2010—Sunday, February 28, 2010

People of African descent have been a part of Virginia’s—and America’s—story since European colonization of the continent began. Yet the contributions of African Americans have often been ignored, obscured, or underappreciated by those who recorded history. In observance of African American History Month, the Library of Virginia is pleased to honor eight distinguished Virginians as African American Trailblazers for their contributions to the state and nation.

Every Child Deserves a Home
Monday, January 04, 2010—Saturday, May 01, 2010
Place: Café Cases Exhibition

The exhibition Every Child Deserves a Home highlights the recent donation of business records from the Children's Home Society of Virginia and marks the 110th anniversary of the agency's founding. The goal of CHSVA is to find permanent homes for all needy children in the state and to provide services to birth families, adoptive families, and adoptees. Since 1900, the nonprofit agency has placed more than 12,500 children into adoptive homes. The agency’s signature program, Partnership for Adoptions, established in 1998, focuses on finding permanent homes for older children in the custody of local departments of social services.

The Land We Live In, the Land We Left: Virginia’s People
Monday, January 11, 2010—Saturday, August 28, 2010
Time: 9:00 AM–5:00 PM
Place: Exhibition Gallery and Lobby Cases

Raising his glass at a July 4th celebration in 1852, a young Irish-American resident of Richmond toasted "the land we live in; not forgetting the land we left." The sentiment reflects the history of more than four centuries of Virginia immigrants, who nurtured the traditions of their homelands even as they participated in the mainstream Virginia economy and culture. Their stories come alive in this exhibition, which explores the lives of immigrants from a wide variety of homelands who settled in every part of the state. Current debates over the treatment of illegal immigrants in the state and the nation make this a timely exhibition.