Virginia History On-Line

The Library of Virginia has digitized much of the contents of the Virginia Historical Inventory, a catalog of maps, photos, and records prior to 1860. The information was gathered in the 30s as part of the Virginia Historical Inventory Project, and is now on-line thanks to a $270,000 grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation. You can just run a search and then get lost, clicking from map to photo to textual records of buildings and ferries. WINA has the story.

2 Responses to “Virginia History On-Line”


  • Waldo says:

    I’ve got to say that this is totally fly. I was looking at old photos and maps and stuff. Maps of Earlysville from the early 1800s, pictures of old churches and such. Historical content like this is an excellent example of information that should be on-line. Unlikely, say, newspapers, there’s often only one copy of a particular photograph, or deed, or map. So this one item is kept in one special place (ie, UVa Special Collections, who has also done a fantastic job of digitizing their rare items) where some people can see it under some circumstances at some times. The materials are inherently inaccessible, and so many people don’t get the opportunity to make use of them.

    But when you archive this stuff on-line, that’s when it becomes a truly great resource. Congrats to the Library of Virginia on this one. I know their site will be a frequent destination during my digital wanderings.

    -Waldo

  • Waldo says:

    BTW, if you ever get a chance, check out the Holsinger Studio Collection. They’ve got hundreds (thousands?) of C’ville photographs, from streetcars to the famous Lambeth field airplane flight, from the National Bank to views of downtown. It’s a really incredible site.

    -Waldo

Comments are currently closed.

Sideblog