Governor Appoints New Members to Library Board

The Library is pleased to announce that Governor Ralph Northam recently appointed three new members to the Library of Virginia Board.

Virtual Visits: 

Weekly Live Videos Share Staff Collection Favorites

Join us on Tuesdays at 1:00 PM for a virtual visit! Get a peek at the Library’s fascinating collections through five-minute Facebook Live videos. Each week a Library of Virginia staff member will share and discuss a favorite item from our archives. A post-event Q&A session follows each video, with questions answered within the Facebook comments by a Library staff member. The videos remain available for viewing on the Library’s Facebook page after the live events.

To support the Library of Virginia, click here.

Educator and civic leader Rosa Dixon Bowser is one of our Virginia Changemakers, a collection of biographies featured on the At-Home Learning web page.

The Library Can Help with Your At-Home Learning Needs

A new At-Home Learning web page from the Library’s Education Department provides parents, caregivers, students, and lifelong learners with a comprehensive listing of online offerings. From primary source activities to documenting pandemics to online exhibitions, there is a range of resources for all age groups! With this site as a starting point, navigate through free, digital content from the Library.

May Is Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by exploring a wealth of new online resources on the history of Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans (APIDAs) in Virginia. A research guide, two bibliographies, an education resources page, a series of blog posts, and a virtual archival display are just a click away.

NEW COLLECTING PROJECT

Signs of the Time:

COVID-19 in Virginia

The Library of Virginia is collecting images of COVID-19-related signage from the public through a “Signs of the Time: COVID-19 in Virginia” Tumblr page.

To support the Library of Virginia, click here.

Photograph of John S. and Mary Goldberger Budner owned by local records archivist Vince Brooks.

PROTECTING

FAMILY & HEIRLOOMS

Safe-handling Tips for Books, Photographs, and Paper During the Pandemic

During this time of home confinement, many of you may have decided to launch into one of those time-consuming projects that you never had time to do before the pandemic. Maybe you are going through old family photos and memorabilia for the purpose of making a scrapbook, or doing a scanning project. Or maybe you just got back into reading some old favorite books from your collection. While we are all becoming pros at keeping ourselves and our families safe from COVID-19, there are some things to consider that can protect your family heirlooms as well. Here are a few tips.

Visit the Virginia Shop Online

Although the Virginia Shop locations at the Library and the State Capitol are currently closed, we continue to fill online orders. Whether you’re looking for genealogy research tools or décor for your around-the-house projects, visit us! Our refreshed website now offers an even better online shopping experience!

Image of a Wood's Seeds catalog from the Library's Pleasure in the Garden Pinterest Board.

From the UncommonWealth blog:

“A Prosperous Season”: The 1920 W. Grossmann & Son’s Seed Catalog 

If you have a home garden, you may have engaged in a time-honored annual ritual—flipping through the pages of a favorite seed catalog and selecting varieties for the season ahead. Even as seed companies have gone digital, the arrival of a print seed catalog in the mail is still an exciting moment, a promise in the depths of winter that spring is on its way.

Historical seed catalogs at the Library of Virginia document the history of gardening in the commonwealth, a narrative that encompasses both change and continuity. One of the oldest catalogs in the Library’s collection is the 1920 catalog of W. Grossmann & Son, a company based in Petersburg, Virginia.