The
Library Celebrates 200
Years!
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It’s our bicentennial year and we’ve got
some exciting plans to mark this milestone!
The Library of Virginia was founded by the
General Assembly on Jan. 24, 1823, to
organize, care for and manage the state's
growing collection of books and official
records. Since then, the collection has
grown to 2 million books, newspapers, maps,
prints and photographs, as well as 130
million manuscript items, making the Library
the most comprehensive resource in the world
for the study of Virginia history, culture
and government.
Join us in 2023 as we celebrate with 200
Years, 200 Stories, an exhibition
and multimedia experience, and a series of
anniversary programs. These include events
commemorating Virginia’s first Black
legislators and the 100th anniversary of
women in the General Assembly, an
exploration of Virginia food and wine, a
Virginia Folklife Celebration, quarterly
First Fridays gatherings and more. We’re
also hitting the road with “LVA on the Go,”
a new vehicle that will travel to public
libraries and other locations across the
commonwealth to engage with Virginians. We
look forward to connecting with you in
Richmond, online or at a public library near
you!
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Explore
True Narratives of Virginians Across
Centuries in Exhibition Opening Jan.
24
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Make plans to visit the Library of
Virginia’s anniversary exhibition—200
Years, 200 Stories, opening
Tuesday, Jan. 24! The exhibition and
multimedia experience celebrate 200
Virginians whose fascinating narratives are
housed in the Library’s collections and
together reflect the stories of Virginia.
Explore the narratives of Virginians like
Ethel Bailey Furman, one of the first Black
female architects in Virginia; David Martin,
founder of the Martin Agency and creator of
the famed tagline “Virginia is for Lovers”;
Chinese immigrant Ow Chuck Sam, who became a
naturalized citizen and served in the armed
forces during World War II; and many more.
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200th
Anniversary Lecture Examines the
Origins of the Library's Book
Collections
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Join us at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 24, the
200th anniversary of the Library’s founding
by the General Assembly, for free a talk by
historian and author Brent Tarter on the
origins of the Library’s book collections,
many of which date back to the early
colonial period. A few books from the
Library’s earliest days will be on display.
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DID
YOU KNOW?
Virginia’s Capitol
Building Housed the First State
Library
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The Library of Virginia, the commonwealth’s
official state library and archives, is
located at 800 East Broad Street in downtown
Richmond. When it was founded in January
1823, however, the Library occupied rooms on
the third floor of the Virginia State
Capitol, the building designed by Thomas
Jefferson and first occupied in 1788 by the
General Assembly. The Library remained there
until 1895, when Virginia erected a new
Library and office building on the eastern
side of Capitol Square.
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State
Capitol. Lawrence Sully.
Digital reproduction of wood engraving.
Published in Virginia & North
Carolina Almanack 1802.
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This historic
Lancaster County record shows damage to
the paper caused by cellulose acetate
lamination, which was once considered a
safe conservation treatment.
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Library
Issues Report on Inventory of
Historic Records in Virginia’s
Courthouses
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Last month the Library issued a report to
Governor Glenn Youngkin and the Virginia
General Assembly on the historical records
treated with cellulose acetate lamination
between the 1930s and the 1990s that are
housed within the circuit court clerks'
offices across the commonwealth and at the
Library of Virginia.
Considered a safe document conservation
treatment in the past, the lamination
process was used on many of the earliest
records stored in circuit court clerks’
offices and at the Library of Virginia. Over
time, however, archivists and conservators
began to notice destructive effects such as
tearing, discoloration and embrittlement,
which put an end to the practice.
The report contains the results of an
inventory of the materials treated with the
lamination process conducted by the
Library’s Circuit Court Records Preservation
program consulting archivists. A total of
1,502 cellulose acetate volumes were
identified in 53 of the 113 localities
examined, with the cost to conserve the
volumes estimated at $15–$20 million over a
period of 10 to 15 years.
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Can
Can Café Offers
Online
Ordering
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You
can now place orders online for Can Can Café
and skip the line for pickup! Enjoy coffee,
fresh-baked pastries, soup, salad,
sandwiches, desserts and other items. Online
ordering is available during the Café’s
regular hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30
a.m. to 3 p.m.
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