Virginia History

JMU faculty members who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and the Center for Faculty Innovation (CFI) leadership team have co-written an acknowledgement. Information about the process and additional resources are provided.

A project of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Library of Virginia.

"The Dictionary of Virginia Biography (DVB) is an ongoing biographical reference work covering all centuries, regions, and categories of Virginia's history and culture. These lists and indexes provide links to online biographies and citations to the print volumes."

Digitized newspapers from Virginia through the Chronicling America project by the Library of Congress.

Harrisonburg newspaper from 1825 onward.

Major Virginia newspaper from the state capital 1903-2006.

An important African-American newspaper in Virginia ~1890-1938.

Access available through the Library of Virginia. You must be a Virginia resident and have a valid Library of Virginia account to access this database outside of the Library of Virginia.

From the Library of Virginia: "The Virginia Newspaper Project is part of United States Newspaper Program, a national effort to locate, describe, inventory, preserve, and provide public access to the United States imprint newspapers housed in the commonwealth."

"In recognition of the 400th anniversary of America's first and oldest law-making body, the House Clerk’s Office is chronicling the nearly 10,000 men and women who have served either as Burgesses or Delegates elected to the Virginia General Assembly over the past four centuries."

Hosted by ODU Librares. "Created to find, catalog, and encourage the preservation of records that tell the story of Virginia's school desegregation process."

A hub of the of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). Digital collections from institutions in West Virginia and Virginia.

"Document Bank of Virginia (DBVa) is the Library of Virginia’s initiative to get documents into classrooms. Using primary sources, teachers can make history relevant to students while helping them learn and understand state standards. DBVa will teach students to be critical thinkers as they analyze the original documents and draw their own conclusions about Virginia’s past."

"Histories along the Blue Ridge (HBR) is a collaborative project between James Madison University and the Rockingham County Circuit Courthouse that is making rare documents from Rockingham County’s storied past accessible to the public."

"Immigrant Harrisonburg is a community based project based at James Madison University to investigate the lives of immigrants living in the Shenandoah Valley and beyond... This includes community service projects, oral histories, documentary films, and advocacy."

"This website focuses on telling the stories of all the known lynching victims who were killed in Virginia between 1866 and 1932, most of them African American men."

"Roots Run Deep is a FREE walking tour of African American history throughout the Shenandoah Valley, produced from original research conducted by the Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project. Currently, the tour takes visitors through special sites in the city of Harrisonburg and Zenda community, both of which are rich with African American history."

"The online companion to the permanent exhibition that celebrates the life of pioneering African-American educator, Lucy F. Simms, and the school named in her honor."

"Virginia Memory is part of the online presence of the Library of Virginia, the state archives and reference library at the seat of government for the Commonwealth of Virginia." Explore their many digital collections.

A part of Virginia Memory from the Library of Virginia, the "African American Narrative project aims to provide greater accessibility to pre-1865 African American history and genealogy found in the rich primary sources in its holdings while creating conversation and encouraging engagement around these records."

"Voices of Virginia pulls together stories from oral history collections from across decades and archives to create an all-audio source companion for Virginia’s high school and college students."