Unraveling Thomas Staples Martin
This is apropos only of the difficulty but also, let’s face it, the extreme coolness of sitting down and editing an encyclopedia entry about Thomas Staples Martin. Who is Thomas… Read More»
Fifty Years Ago Today, a Massive Resistance
When one considers the term massive–or “collective”–resistance, we might try and channel Thoreauian idealism and think of a movement by a downtrodden people to subvert or protest a tyrannical status… Read More»
In the beginning …
of Encyclopedia Virginia there was Andrew Chancey [pronounced ‘An-drëw Chän-see’; aka VFH Director of Planning and Management and Executive Editor of Encyclopedia Virginia]. Andrew–known as “Andy” to his friends outside… Read More»
All the Power to Martin Delany
The name of the publication is Encyclopedia Virginia, which assumes that the subjects of our articles are connected to the state in some way. Which is a safe assumption, of… Read More»
The Revolutionary Spirit of Billy Mahone
One of the more remarkable figures in Virginia history made a surprise appearance this weekend in the letters section of the New York Times Book Review. Writing about the legacy… Read More»
A Tale of the Greyhound and the Fox
Belle Boyd was one of the Confederacy’s most notorious spies. And her 1865 memoir, Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison, is full of so many outrageous stories that historians have… Read More»
Fresh from the Field
In light of that gruesome photograph of a dead Confederate at Petersburg, here is something I wrote for the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire at the very beginning of the… Read More»
On the Subject of the 'Weak-Minded'
A few weeks ago, in a blog post about race, the issue of eugenics came up. I promised some more on that and, well, here it is. In 1927, the… Read More»
'All the transient multitudes'
The novelist Marilynne Robinson, in Amherst Magazine, refers to a different place but speaks, I think, to the spirit behind Encyclopedia Virginia: I’ve always felt that people somehow immortalize themselves… Read More»
Those Docile Laughing Creatures
I’m still stuck on that sentence from Mary Tucker Magill’s Virginia history textbook: “Generally speaking, the negroes proved a harmless and affectionate race, easily governed, and happy in their condition.”… Read More»
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