12th Annual Anne & Ryland Brown Teacher Institute (virtual)
Monday, August 2, 2021 from 9:00 AM–4:00 PM 
Online 
Free, but registration required. Join Library of Virginia staff members and guest speakers in this year’s one-day Teacher Institute held virtually through the Library of Virginia. Alternatively, the Library is hosting one-day institutes in Abingdon (July 22), Newport News (July 29), and Richmond (August 3). All in-person events are subject to any COVID restrictions in place at their locations. Feel free to register for the location that works best for you.
The 12th annual Brown Teacher Institute will focus on the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Virginia Constitution, offering tools, resources, and content to aid educators in teaching about the document and its legacies. Teachers will explore how to use primary sources to enhance student learning in the classroom and discover new digital resources. All events will include live Q&As. The Library's annual Brown Teacher Institute is generously supported by the Anne and Ryland Brown Teacher Enrichment Fund. The 2021 teachers institute is also made possible in part by Virginia Humanities.
Capacity is limited. Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Contact Emma Ito at emma.ito@lva.virginia.gov or Catherine Fitzgerald Wyatt at catherine.fitzgeraldwyatt.lva.virginia.gov with any questions.
12th Annual Anne & Ryland Brown Teacher Institute: Richmond, VA (in-person)
Tuesday, August 3, 2021 from 9:00 AM–4:00 PM Conference Rooms Free, but registration required. Join Library of Virginia staff members and guest speakers in this year’s one-day Teacher Institute at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. Alternatively, the Library is hosting one-day institutes in Abingdon (July 22) and Newport News (July 29), as well as a virtual option on August 2. All in-person events are subject to any COVID restrictions in place at their locations. Feel free to register for the location that works best for you.
The 12th annual Brown Teacher Institute will focus on the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Virginia Constitution, offering tools, resources, and content to aid educators in teaching about the document and its legacies. Teachers will explore how to use primary sources to enhance student learning in the classroom and discover new digital resources. All events will include live Q&As. The Library's annual Brown Teacher Institute is generously supported by the Anne and Ryland Brown Teacher Enrichment Fund. The 2021 teachers institute is also made possible in part by Virginia Humanities.
Capacity is limited. Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Contact Emma Ito at emma.ito@lva.virginia.gov or Catherine Fitzgerald Wyatt at catherine.fitzgeraldwyatt.lva.virginia.gov with any questions.
GENEALOGY VIRTUAL WORKSHOP
To Common Defense: Military Records for Genealogical Research – Part 1
Friday, August 6, 2021 from 10:00 AM–11:00 AM Online $15 ($10 for Library of Virginia members) The Library of Virginia is the most important repository of military records of Virginians who served in various ways from Virginia’s founding to the end of World War II. Ginny Dunn (Archives & Library Reference Services Manager) will present records unique to the Library, as well as records available on microfilm and in digital format from institutions such as the National Archives, including printed sources. Part One will focus on military records prior to the Civil War, while Part Two will cover records from the Civil War to World War II. Contact Ashley Ramey at ashley.ramey@lva.virginia.gov or 804.692.3001 for more information.
FORUM FRIDAYS: VIRTUAL VIRGINIA FORUM TALKS
Speaking Their Names: Crafting “Tenacity: Women in Jamestown and Early Virginia”
Friday, August 6, 2021 from 12:00 PM–1:00 PM Online Free, but registration required. Join us for a series of virtual presentations on Virginia history and culture from scholars across the state. This series offers some of the most compelling sessions that had been proposed for the 2020 Virginia Forum conference, which was cancelled due to the pandemic. The annual event brings together teachers, students, and professionals interested in Virginia history and culture to present, discuss, and reconsider the story of the commonwealth. Free and open to the general public, this collaboration with the Library of Virginia will share the online sessions with a wider audience. Events are scheduled for July 23, August 6, August 20, and September 17, 2021.
On August 6, Katherine Egner Gruber, special exhibitions curator at Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, presents Speaking Their Names: Crafting “Tenacity: Women in Jamestown and Early Virginia.” Women’s roles in the events of early Virginia were rarely recorded—and rarer still is their presence in traditional treatments of the history of early Virginia. Even so, tenacious women profoundly influenced the early years of the Virginia colony. For too long their names have been forgotten. Using the recent exhibition Tenacity as a guide, this talk will explore how to find women between the lines of the historical record, and how material culture, documentary evidence, and a little imagination can come together to craft an engaging, relevant, and more complete narrative of 17th-century Virginia.
For more information, contact Ashley Ramey at ashley.ramey@lva.virginia.gov or 804.692.3001.
Common Ground Virginia History Virtual Book Group
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 from 6:00 PM–7:30 PM Online Free, but registration required. Read and discuss compelling nonfiction books handpicked by Library staff that explore Virginia history, society, and culture. This month, we'll discuss Archie and Amelie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age by Donna M. Lucey. Lucey, a biographer, photo editor, and writer based in Charlottesville, Virginia, will join us for the second half of the discussion to answer questions about the book.
Next month, we'll discuss No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice by Karen L. Cox. Check your local public library or the FindItVA OverDrive collection to borrow titles, or purchase through the Virginia Shop or other online retailers.
We invite attendees to sign up for our monthly email list. Get meeting reminders as well as unique historical resources from the Library's collections selected to accompany upcoming discussions. To sign up for the list or request more information about this event, contact Becky Schneider at rebecca.schneider@lva.virginia.gov or 804.692.3550.
"The Virginia Way"
Part 5 of the JXN Project Summer Lecture Series
Wednesday, August 18, 2021 from 7:00 PM–8:00 PM Online Free, but registration required. The JXN Project celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Jackson Ward neighborhood with a year-long sesquicentennial celebration. Join the Library of Virginia as we partner with The JXN Project and Richmond Public Library to offer a six-part summer lecture series on Jackson Ward history. This fifth lecture will feature Gregg Kimball, Dr. Lauranett Lee, Brooke Berry, Christina Vida, Ma'asehyahu Isra-UI, and moderator Dr. Zoe Spencer exploring the role and responsibilities of institutions that may be rooted in oppressive origins in helping to drive the cultivation of more diverse, equitable, and inclusive spaces for restorative truth-telling and redemptive storytelling.
The JXN Project's co-creators, Enjoli Moon and Dr. Sesha Joi Moon, seek to recontextualize and more accurately capture the role of Richmond, Virginia and Jackson Ward in the Black American experience. Through a year-long celebration of Jackson Ward's 150th anniversary, a set of initiatives to rename the ward's streets after former residents, and a push to increase Black representation in Richmond's historical preservation bodies, The JXN Project will partner with community stakeholders to build a Richmond that honors Black excellence. Learn more at thejxnproject.com.
The public is invited to attend these lectures, comment, and become part of the process of this historic justice initiative.
GENEALOGY VIRTUAL WORKSHOP
To Common Defense: Military Records for Genealogical Research – Part 2
Friday, August 20, 2021 from 10:00 AM–11:00 AM Online $15 ($10 for Library of Virginia members) The Library of Virginia is the most important repository of military records of Virginians who served in various ways from Virginia’s founding to the end of World War II. Ginny Dunn (Archives & Library Reference Services Manager) will present records unique to the Library, as well as records available on microfilm and in digital format from institutions such as the National Archives, including printed sources. Part One focused on military records prior to the Civil War, while Part Two will cover records from the Civil War to World War II. Contact Ashley Ramey at ashley.ramey@lva.virginia.gov or 804.692.3001 for more information.
FORUM FRIDAYS: VIRTUAL VIRGINIA FORUM TALKS
Fighting for Freedom: Black Activism in the Civil War–era Lower Shenandoah Valley
Friday, August 20, 2021 from 12:00 PM–1:00 PM Online Free, but registration required. Join us for a series of virtual presentations on Virginia history and culture from scholars across the state. This series offers some of the most compelling sessions that had been proposed for the 2020 Virginia Forum conference, which was cancelled due to the pandemic. The annual event brings together teachers, students, and professionals interested in Virginia history and culture to present, discuss, and reconsider the story of the commonwealth. Free and open to the general public, this collaboration with the Library of Virginia will share the online sessions with a wider audience. Events are scheduled for July 23, August 6, August 20, and September 17, 2021.
On August 20, historians Jonathan Berkey (professor of history, Concord University) and Jonathan Noyalas (director of Shenandoah University's McCormick Civil War Institute) discuss Black Activism in the Civil War–era Lower Shenandoah Valley. Through an examination of the experiences of enslaved people in the lower Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War’s first year and the “Bologna Riot” in Reconstruction-era Charles Town, West Virginia, Berkey and Noyalas will offer perspectives on the ways in which African Americans asserted themselves personally and politically in the complex environment of Virginia’s Lower Shenandoah Valley during a tumultuous decade that included civil war, emancipation, and political reconstruction.
For more information, contact Ashley Ramey at ashley.ramey@lva.virginia.gov or 804.692.3001.
We’re Talking Generations: Diversity & Representation in Children’s Literature
Tuesday, August 24, 2021 from 4:00 PM–5:30 PM Online Free, but registration required. It is important that the voices of children from all backgrounds are represented in the literature that they read. Recent estimates show that for children’s books, only 10% represent Black children and only 5% represent Latinx children. Seeing diversity in books is critical to reinforcing positive and accurate depictions of underrepresented children. The Library of Virginia will facilitate a conversation comparing reader experiences of cultural representation in literature from perspectives across generations and backgrounds. Register using the button below and to get into the right vibe, you can download your virtual zoom living room background here.
This event is part of Racial Truth & Reconciliation Week, August 22–28, 2021, a virtual conference hosted by Voices for Virginia’s Children that promotes the reckoning of Virginia’s past to reconcile our present and future.
Panelists:
• Todd Elliott, Director, Portsmouth Public Library
• Robin Jones, Community Member
• Brea Gilliam, Intern, Library Development & Networking Division, Library of Virginia
• Susan La Paro, Children & Youth Services Consultant, Library of Virginia
• James Braxton, II, Author, Heroes of Trauma: Soul Strong
• Henry & Joseph Rush, Co-Authors, My Dad Has A Food Truck
Making History with LVA
Saturday, August 28, 2021 from 12:00 PM–2:00 PM Online Free Crowdsource with us! The Library of Virginia acquires, preserves, and promotes access to unique collections of Virginia’s history and culture. With more content and research moving online, we seek to make digital documents as accessible as possible by crowdsourcing their contents. Volunteers will transcribe handwritten pages and historical newspapers by reading the text and typing it into digital form. Join us for a virtual volunteer session to learn how you can help make historical documents more searchable and usable for researchers now and in the future.
Each session will focus on one or more of these three crowdsourcing projects (depending on document availability):
From the Page: WWI Questionnaires
After Library of Virginia staff members introduce the platform and demonstrate the activity, volunteers will work independently for the remaining time. Participants can share their screens and ask questions about specific documents or issues. Information about joining through Zoom will be emailed the week of the event.
Participate in enhancing access to collections of over 400 years of Virginia history, people, and culture. From peace to wartime, wedding announcements and world-changing events, and court records to letters home, there will be something for everyone. Help us tell the narrative of all Virginians—the famous, infamous and even anonymous—and join us in Making History.
Contact Sonya Coleman for more information at makinghistory@virginiamemory.com or call Hands On Greater Richmond at 804-330-7400. Registration is required.
Columbia Pike: Through the Lens of Community
Tuesday, August 31, 2021–Saturday, January 8, 2022 Library of Virginia Exhibition Gallery Free Columbia Pike: Through the Lens of Community, a unique exhibition of photographs at the Library of Virginia, celebrates the extraordinary cultural diversity found within a single community in Northern Virginia. Columbia Pike originated in the 19th century as a toll road connecting rural Virginia with the nation's capital. Today, the Columbia Pike corridor is one of the most culturally diverse communities in the nation, and possibly in the world. More than 130 languages are spoken in Arlington County, with the densest concentration along the Pike. Unlike in many parts of the world, or even in our own country, however, the stunningly diverse group of people—representing every continent—who live and work there do so in relative harmony.
Columbia Pike Documentary Project photographers, whose personal connections to the community allowed them to capture the strength, pride, resilience, elegance, and beauty of so many overlapping cultures, created the works on view. More than 70 of the thousands of photographs transferred to the Library of Virginia’s collections this spring will be highlighted in Columbia Pike: Through the Lens of Community. The exhibition will also include information about the neighborhood, the residents, and the photographers themselves. As the nation seems more divided than ever, this collection shows how one community is making diversity work.
Columbia Pike: Through the Lens of Community
Tuesday, August 31, 2021–Saturday, January 8, 2022 Library of Virginia Exhibition Gallery Free Columbia Pike: Through the Lens of Community, a unique exhibition of photographs at the Library of Virginia, celebrates the extraordinary cultural diversity found within a single community in Northern Virginia. Columbia Pike originated in the 19th century as a toll road connecting rural Virginia with the nation's capital. Today, the Columbia Pike corridor is one of the most culturally diverse communities in the nation, and possibly in the world. More than 130 languages are spoken in Arlington County, with the densest concentration along the Pike. Unlike in many parts of the world, or even in our own country, however, the stunningly diverse group of people—representing every continent—who live and work there do so in relative harmony.
Columbia Pike Documentary Project photographers, whose personal connections to the community allowed them to capture the strength, pride, resilience, elegance, and beauty of so many overlapping cultures, created the works on view. More than 70 of the thousands of photographs transferred to the Library of Virginia’s collections this spring will be highlighted in Columbia Pike: Through the Lens of Community. The exhibition will also include information about the neighborhood, the residents, and the photographers themselves. As the nation seems more divided than ever, this collection shows how one community is making diversity work.
