The Library of Virginia Newsletter
July 2016


Library of Virginia Announces Finalists for the 19th Annual Literary Awards

Nine authors are the finalists for the Library of Virginia's independent panel of judges from 196 books nominated for the awards. The winners in each category will be selected from among these finalists and announced at a gala celebration on October 15, 2016, at the Library of Virginia.

Poetry

  • Impossible Bottle, Claudia Emerson
  • Little Anodynes, Jon Pineda
  • The Regret Histories, Joshua Poteat

Emyl Jenkins Sexton Literary Award for Fiction

  • The Fall of Princes, Robert Goolrick
  • This Angel on My Chest, Leslie Pietrzyk
  • The Shore, Sara Taylor

Nonfiction

  • Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles, Bert Ashe
  • Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention, Mary Sarah Bilder
  • Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County, Kristen Green

The Library of Virginia's annual literary awards were first given in 1998 to recognize the best books published the previous year by Virginia authors or on a Virginia theme. The winners in each of the three categories receive a monetary prize of $2,500.

The winners of the fiction, nonfiction, and poetry awards will be announced on Saturday, October 15, 2016, at the 19th Annual Library of Virginia Awards Celebration Honoring Virginia Authors & Friends. This gala event, sponsored by Dominion, attracts authors, publishers, and those who enjoy the written word. Award-winning author Adriana Trigiani will again serve as host for this event. As previously announced, Nikki Giovanni will be honored this year as the recipient of the Literary Lifetime Achievement Award.

For ticket information, please call (804) 692-3900.

<< back to e-newsletter


Library of Virginia Announces Publication of Civil War Echoes edited by James I. Robertson Jr.

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce the publication of Civil War Echoes: Voices from Virginia, 1860–1891, edited by James I. "Bud" Robertson Jr., one of the nation's most renowned Civil War historians and Alumni Distinguished Professor in History emeritus at Virginia Tech. Dr. Robertson is the author or editor of more than 20 books on the American Civil War, including a definitive biography of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, which received the Library of Virginia's first literary award for nonfiction in 1998.

Civil War Echoes contains excerpts from letters, reminiscences, diaries, journals, and other documents written by Confederate and Union soldiers and civilian Virginians, and uses these contemporary accounts to explore the tumultuous time in our nation’s history between 1860 and 1890. Virginia was the major battlefield of the Civil War, where the lines between the battlefront and home front were blurred, and the scars and wounds of the war lasted well beyond Appomattox.

Civil War Echoes draws on original material from the Civil War period that Virginians made available to the Civil War 150 Legacy Project. This project was an extremely successful partnership between the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission and the Library of Virginia. The project held scanning events in communities in every region of the state between 2010 and 2015. Citizens were invited to share their family letters, diaries, military papers, pension records, photographs, and other materials with the project. With half of the major battles of the Civil War occurring in Virginia, nearly every family was significantly affected by the war and thus has unique stories to tell. The Civil War 150 Legacy Project was designed to uncover these stories and make them accessible to a wider audience in digital format.

The collection of material created by the project was renamed at the close of Virginia's 150th commemoration to thank Dr. James I. Robertson Jr. for his invaluable contributions to the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission. The complete James I. Robertson Jr. Civil War Sesquicentennial Legacy Collection is available and searchable at www.virginiamemory.com/collections/cw150.

Civil War Echoes will be released at the Library of Virginia on September 14. At noon and again at 5:30 PM, Dr. Robertson will speak about the selections he chose to include in the volume and why the Legacy Project collection is so important. Each talk will be held in the conference rooms at the Library and followed by a book signing. Copies of Civil War Echoes are available for purchase in the Virginia Shop at the Library, or by phone at 804-692-3524 or online at www.thevirginiashop.org for $19.95.

<< back to e-newsletter


Coliseum Model Is a Nominee for Virginia's Top 10 Endangered Artifacts

The Library of Virginia has nominated the Richmond Coliseum Architectural Model (1968) for consideration as one of Virginia's 2016 Top 10 Endangered Artifacts.

Virginia's Top Ten Endangered Artifacts program is designed to create awareness of the importance of preserving artifacts in museums, libraries, and archives throughout the commonwealth and in the District of Columbia. Twenty institutions have nominated items that they believe tell a significant story and deserve to be recognized on this prestigious "Top 10 List."

The Richmond Coliseum Architectural Model is part of the Library's collection of records from Ben R. Johns Jr. Architects. Benjamin R. Johns Jr. (1922–2006), an award-winning architect, was best-known for his design of the Richmond Coliseum. In 1968, the Richmond native was tapped as the primary architect to work with the Philadelphia firm Vincent G. Kling and Associates on the coliseum project. Johns was honored for the design by the Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1974 and by the Richmond Planning Commission in 1975.

On April 1, 2016, Governor Terry McAuliffe signed House Bill 1237 introduced by Delegate Manoli Loupassi, which permits the Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority to construct, own, and operate a new coliseum. So the Richmond Coliseum could be torn down within the next few years and replaced by a new, larger structure.

The public is invited to cast their votes for Virginia's 2016 Top 10 Endangered Artifacts at www.vatop10artifacts.org through August 21. The final Top 10 honorees will be selected by an independent review panel of collections and conservation experts and will be announced ahead of October's Arts and Humanities Month.

<< back to e-newsletter


Society of American Archivists Recognizes Barbara Teague as SAA Fellow

Barbara Teague, current director of the Government Records Services Division of the Library of Virginia and recently retired Kentucky State Archivist, was inducted as a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists during a ceremony at the Joint Annual Meeting of the SAA and the Council of State Archivists in Atlanta, July 31–August 6. The distinction of Fellow is the highest honor bestowed on individuals by the SAA and is awarded for outstanding contributions to the archives profession.

Teague is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Kentucky and holds a master of arts in public administration from the University of Virginia. She joined the staff of the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives as a field archivist in 1983 and for the next 32 years indefatigably served the Archives and Records Management Division and the Commonwealth of Kentucky in a series of management positions, before being named Kentucky State Archivist and Records Administrator in 2008 and leading in that capacity until 2015. She also served as coordinator or deputy coordinator of the Kentucky State Historical Records Advisory Board for more than 20 years, working with repositories throughout Kentucky, and is the recipient of the Kentucky SHRAB's highest honor, the Thomas D. Clark Archives Month Award.

Her commitment to professional activities throughout her career is equally tireless. She is a past president of the Council of State Archivists, where she helped oversee two major multi-year programmatic initiatives: the FEMA-funded Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records project and the inauguration of the State Electronic Records Initiative, which has now entered its fifth year of working to improve electronic records and digital preservation in state archives. She serves on CoSA's Advocacy Committee and is one of CoSA's two representatives on the CoSA/NAGARA/SAA Joint Working Group for Advocacy and Awareness. For the SAA, she has most recently volunteered her time to the Committee on Public Policy, where she is incoming vice chair, and is co-chair of the CoSA/SAA Joint Annual Meeting Program Committee this year. She previously served on the Government Affairs Working Group, the Standards Board, the Committee on Archival Information Exchange, the Committee on Regional Archival Activity, and as chair and steering committee member for the Description Section.

Teague is one of five new Fellows named in 2016. There are currently 185 Fellows of the Society of American Archivists. Founded in 1936, the Society of American Archivists is North America's oldest and largest national archival professional association. The SAA's mission is to serve the educational and informational needs of more than 6,200 individual and institutional members and to provide leadership to ensure the identification, preservation, and use of records of historical value. For more information, visit www.archivists.org.

–submitted by Teresa Brinati, Society of American Archivists

<< back to e-newsletter


Library of Virginia to be Site for 2016 Datathon Challenge

The 2016 Workforce Innovation Datathon Challenge, a competition inviting citizens, students, and government teams from across the state to come together to create innovative workforce solutions, will be held on August 25–26 at the Library of Virginia. Participants will have two days to take a new, highly enriched, and curated "Jobs Demand" dataset and turn it into actionable information that will support the governor's goal of filling the 250,000+ open jobs in new Virginia economy.

In announcing the 2016 Datathon Challenge, Governor Terry McAuliffe stressed that "Virginia must embrace innovation and leverage data in order to advance our workforce efforts for a new Virginia economy. Jobs today require adaptive technical skills, as cyber and communication innovations are developing at an ever-increasing rate. We must cultivate a deeper understanding of current and future job opportunities to strengthen the connection between the skillsets we are imparting on our workforce and the needs employers have to grow successful businesses in the 21st century."

Research shows that the jobs of the post-industrial service economy require workers with a higher degree of education and skills beyond those represented by a high school diploma.

The challenge that Virginia faces is cultivating a deeper understanding of the current and future job opportunities in this new economy and showcasing those insights in a way that can strengthen the connection between employers looking for talent, job seekers and students trying to build a career, and educators and trainers preparing talent for jobs. The innovations developed through the Governor's Workforce Innovation Datathon will address this fundamental challenge and better position Virginia to fill its open jobs

Entries will be judged on impact, innovation, and technical achievement. Three to five teams will be selected to move to the next phase of the contest, which will be held on September 7.

For registration, additional information, and datathon rules, please visit the event website: http://data.virginia.gov/datathon-2016.

–Submitted by Brian Coy, Office of the Governor

<< back to e-newsletter


Mandela Washington Fellows Visit the Library of Virginia

On July 18, a group of 25 members of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders visited the Library to learn about two transparency and open government initiatives: The Kaine E-mail Project @ LVA and Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative. Roger Christman, senior state records archivist, discussed the Kaine E-mail Project and how it fit within the Library's role in promoting transparency in government. Greg Crawford, local records program manager, shared stories of enslaved and free African Americans from the Virginia Untold project, focusing on the power of archives to give voice to the voiceless. Adrienne Robertson, education and programs coordinator, gave the Fellows a tour of the Library.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, administered by the U.S. Department of State, is part of the Obama administration's Young African Leaders Initiative, which empowers young people from Sub-Saharan Africa through academic course work, leadership training, and networking. The Fellows are involved in a six-week Public Management Institute hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University, a program "tailored to Fellows who work, or aspire to work, in all levels of government, regional or international organizations, or other publicly minded groups and think tanks."

–submitted by Roger Christman, Government Records Services


Library’s Newest GCI Exhibition Focuses on Election Ephemera

The Library of Virginia is participating in a themed launch to showcase archival materials, objects, and stories related to the history and evolution of elections in America sponsored by Google Cultural Institute. The content will be grouped in a dedicated section on the GCI website. Dana Puga, the prints and photographs collection specialist at the Library, created Running for Office, an exhibition featuring campaign flyers and paraphernalia found in the Library's collections. This is the ninth Google Cultural Institute exhibition created by the Library of Virginia. To view all the GCI exhibitions, visit: www.google.com/culturalinstitute/collection/library-of-virginia.

–submitted by Dana Puga, Collections Access and Management Services


Join Us for Our Transcribe-a-versary on August 27, 2016, at the Library

Many of you may already be familiar with our Making History: Transcribe project (www.virginiamemory.com/transcribe). Through this website, we ask anyone with an Internet connection and some free time to help us transcribe items in the Library of Virginia's collections. By crowdsourcing transcriptions, we are able to make items more searchable in our digital repository, more readable for future users, and open to digital humanities textual analysis.

For over a year, we have partnered with the volunteer hub HandsOn Richmond to offer transcribe-a-thons each month at the Library. Twenty spots fill up each month, and for two hours those volunteers work on everything from Freedom Suits of enslaved persons to WPA Life Histories from the years of the Great Depression. With over 17,000 pages transcribed by the public and approved by Library staff, it seems to be working!

For the two-year anniversary of the Transcribe project, we will offer 100 volunteer spots and expanded programming. You can get a lesson on how to read old handwriting, get the inside scoop on Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative, or take a tour of the second floor. From 10:00 AM until 2:30 PM, we will be transcribing with intermittent presentations. We want to thank our hearty volunteers, recruit some new ones, and envision next steps in this public collaboration. Box lunch and birthday cake will be served to volunteers. Registration through HandsOn Richmond required: http://bit.ly/LVAvolunteer

–submitted by Sonya Coleman, Information Technology Services

<< back to e-newsletter