Left to right: Meg Medina, David and Michelle
Baldacci, and Nikki Giovanni.
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Library to Award Honorary
Patron of Letters Degree
to Four Distinguished
Virginians
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The Library of Virginia will award honorary Patron of Letters degrees to
best-selling author David Baldacci and his wife, Michelle, a passionate literacy
advocate; renowned poet and educator Nikki Giovanni; and award-winning children’s
author Meg Medina. The Patron of Letters degree, Library’s highest honor,
recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the fields of
history, library science, the literary arts or archival science.
The Library will present the degrees during the 26th Annual
Virginia Literary Awards Celebration on Oct. 14, the commonwealth’s biggest
night honoring its authors and their stories! Purchase tickets
here.
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Cast Your Vote for the Library
of Virginia’s Annual People's Choice Awards!
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The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce 10 finalists for the Annual
People’s Choice Awards. The finalists represent the most-requested fiction and
nonfiction titles by Virginia authors, or about the commonwealth, published in
2022. The public is invited to select the winners for the People’s Choice Awards.
Voting runs through July 31, 2023. Winners will be announced on Oct. 14, 2023, at
the 26th Annual Virginia Literary Awards Celebration.
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Left to right: Bomba dancers Isha M. Renta Lopez and
Margarita Tata Cepeda; blues dancer Joshua Purnell; Kadencia, a Bomba and Plena
band; and fiddler Eddie Bond.
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Join Us at the Library to
Celebrate
Virginia Folklife on July 7 &
8!
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The Library of Virginia and the Virginia Folklife Program of Virginia Humanities present a
free two-day celebration featuring documentary screenings, live music, activities
and more to highlight Virginia’s diverse and evolving folklife heritage. The
events are part of the Library’s 200th anniversary
celebration.
Friday, July 7 | 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. |
Reception, Film Screening & Program
Join us for a reception, short
screenings of documentaries and a stage program honoring teams in the Virginia
Folklife Program’s apprenticeship program. Featured artists include artisans,
musicians and dancers. Registration is required for Friday’s event.
Saturday, July 8 | 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. |
Performances, Displays & Activities
Enjoy performances, displays and family
activities highlighting old and new Virginia musical traditions, including blues,
Bomba and Plena, fiddling and more. Performers include the Bomba and Plena band
Kadencia and the Richmond Shape Note Singers.
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Brown Teacher Research Fellows
Explore Hidden Histories
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The Library of Virginia’s 2023 Anne and Ryland Brown Teacher Research Fellows will
explore local stories and histories that have been left out of mainstream
narratives in Virginia history. Teacher Fellows work with Library staff members to
pursue research, produce educational resources to support the Library’s exhibition
and education programs, and make presentations on their projects.
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Left to right: T.J. Hindley, Andrew Abeyounis and
Lorraine Dresch.
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This year’s Fellows are T.J. Hindley, a social studies teacher at Broadway High
School in Rockingham County; Andrew Abeyounis, a social studies teacher at Grafton
High School in Yorktown; and Lorraine Dresch, a history teacher at Ridgeview High
School in Wise County.
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Don’t Miss Two Upcoming Carole
Weinstein Author Series Talks!
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The 2023 Carole Weinstein
Author Series continues this summer with talks from experts on regional
culture and history.
Erica Abrams Locklear, a professor of English and humanities at
the University of North Carolina Asheville, will discuss Appalachia on the
Table: Representing Mountain Food and People on Thursday, July 27
at 6 p.m. Her book explores how long-held preconceptions about
Appalachian foodways color our perception of the region and its people.
Author and historian Kidada Williams will discuss I Saw Death Coming: A
History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction, a
heart-wrenching reexamination of the struggle for survival in the
Reconstruction-era South, on Wednesday, Aug. 2 at 6 p.m.
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Free and open to the
public, the Weinstein Author Series supports the literary arts by bringing both
new and well-known authors to the Library of Virginia.
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The 2023 honorees are (clockwise from upper left)
Sheila Bowen Taylor,
Col. Quentin Joseph Smith Jr. (Ret.), Kendall
Holbrook, Rev. Raymond Rogers "R.R." Wilkinson,
Ora Scruggs McCoy and Wendell Oliver Scott.
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Strong Men & Women in Virginia History
Honorees Celebrated
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Dominion Energy and the Library of Virginia honored six leaders as Strong Men &
Women in Virginia History at a gala on June 16 in Richmond. This annual program
recognizes notable African American business and community leaders who have
overcome obstacles to make significant impacts across the state. Biographies of
honorees are displayed in an exhibition at the Library; featured on materials sent
to schools, libraries and museums across Virginia; and included on an educational
website for teachers and students.
The 2023 honorees are Kendall Holbrook, CEO and mentor, Fairfax County; Ora
Scruggs McCoy, farmer and community activist, Appomattox County; Wendell Oliver
Scott (honored posthumously), stock car driver, Danville; Col. Quentin Joseph
Smith Jr. (Ret.), Air Force pilot and mentor, Hampton; Sheila Bowen Taylor,
nuclear engineer and mentor, Norfolk; and Rev. Raymond Rogers "R.R." Wilkinson
(honored posthumously),
Baptist minister and Civil Rights leader, Roanoke.
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LVA On the Go Visits Lynchburg
Public Library in July
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The Library of Virginia continues its
statewide tour in July with LVA On the Go! As part of our yearlong 200th
anniversary celebration, our custom-built vehicle is bringing some of the
Library’s vast resources, staff expertise and programming to every corner of the
commonwealth.
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A stop at Lynchburg
Public Library on Saturday, July 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. will
engage visitors with local history, family history, educational materials,
children’s activities and more.
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Every House Tells a Story!
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Learn how to find your home’s story at an upcoming genealogy workshop, “Every
House Tells a Story: How to Research the History of Your Home & Neighborhood.”
Join us on Friday, Aug. 4 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to
discover research strategies for exploring the history of a particular building,
including architecture, ownership, location and historical context.
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StoryCorp’s One Small Step Visits the
Library this Fall
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StoryCorps’ One Small Step, a national effort to bring our country
together one conversation at a time, is currently focusing on Richmond and will
record conversations at the Library of Virginia Oct. 2–6,
2023.
The program, which pairs strangers with opposing political views to get to know
each other as people, is looking for individuals in the Richmond metro area who
would like to participate in 50-minute conversations about their lives.
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DID YOU KNOW?
The First Librarian of
Virginia Was Appointed in 1903
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The Virginia Constitution of 1902 empowered the State Board of Education to create
a board of directors to oversee the management of the State Library as a separate
state agency and to appoint a Librarian of Virginia. Before then the institution’s
leadership fell under the duties of the secretary of the commonwealth. John
Pendleton Kennedy, who had previously worked at the Library of Congress, became
the first Librarian of Virginia, serving from 1903 to 1907. He increased purchases
of books, periodicals and newspapers for the general readership and established a
Department of Archives and History.
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