Browse Items (215 total)

Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764–1820) was born in England, where he worked for an engineer and an architect before immigrating to the United States. He became one of the young nation's most significant architects and designed the U.S. Capitol. While…

The woman suffrage movement coincided with major national reform movements seeking to improve public education, create public health programs, regulate business and industrial practices, and establish standards to ensure safety in food and public…

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Long associated with coal mining, southwest Virginia has an impressive list of other industries including farming, salt production, timber, and the mining of lead, copper, gypsum, and iron. These industries helped the region become known as the…

Sir Walter Raleigh (ca. 1552–1618) was an English explorer, soldier, writer, and a favorite at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, who granted him a charter to explore North America. Although he sponsored the attempts in the 1580s to colonize Roanoke…

By 1780, the Continental Army had been battling British forces for five years during the American Revolution. Although the Americans had secured some key victories in places as far-flung as New York and South Carolina, the British still held…

The 1896 US Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson that established the so-called "separate but equal" doctrine gave rise to segregation laws throughout the southern United States. Often called Jim Crow laws, these laws mandated the separation…

Virginia did not have a statewide system of public schools until after the Civil War. Before this, private academies and common schools were all that existed, but the Virginia General Assembly did authorize a “literary fund” that supplied counties…

Sebastian Münster (1488–1552) was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and scholar. In 1544, he published Cosmographia, the earliest description of the world written in German, although editions were also published in English, French, Italian, and…

The Seaboard Air Line (SAL) Railway was chartered from April 14, 1900 and ran until July 1, 1967, when it merged with another railroad line, Atlantic Coast Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. The SAL Railway originated from several…