A Love Story

Alexander and Virginia Weddell

Eighty-nine years ago this week, a love story was ignited between the future residents of Virginia House, Alexander and Virginia Weddell.  Beginning in Calcutta, declaring itself in New York City, and defining the remainder of two lives forever joined in Richmond, this love was both a whirlwind romance and a lifelong commitment.  The couple constantly wrote intensely personal and admiring notes and letters to each other, whether as far away as different continents or merely different rooms on the steamer ship where much of their four-month courtship took place.  As with the greatest of love stories, this one starts with a chance meeting and ends with an eternal promise to be together until death.

The couple met each other during Alexander’s post as Consul-General to India on February 7, 1923 at a lunch date arranged by mutual friends.  Completely fascinated by Virginia, Alexander quickly arranged a sabbatical so as to accompany her on the return trip to New York.  Correspondence between the two paints a picture of a forty-something bachelor finally finding his soul mate in an equally smitten widow who was given a second chance at love.  He writes to “My Lady,” “Belovedest,” “My dear and only love,” and signs his letters, “Your own always.”  Her responses are most commonly addressed to “My Man” and signed a simple “Your V–.” Some are long and grandiose, indicative of too much time spent apart (“The hours drag until I clasp you again to my heart, my Beloved.” ), and others are short and demonstrative of the intense longing felt for each other after only a few hours spent separately (“Wake up!!! I’m lonely.”).  All are peppered with flowery and metaphorical language that defines their attachment to each other.  After only a few months of dating, Alexander and Virginia were married at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC on May 23^rd.  It was not long after the wedding that they built their retirement home in Richmond, where they lived until their untimely deaths in a train accident on New Year’s Day, 1948.  Their early correspondence shows so much reverence that it seems to them every day was Valentine’s Day:

There is much, so much, that I wish to say to you—of what you mean to me in life, of what your companionship has been to me, of what hopes and longings and desires possess me in thinking of you—but always my words seem traitors or cowards either betraying me into blundering speech or basely leaving me to face you in silence…’I do but know I love thee, and I pray to be thy knight until my dying day.’

–Alexander toVirginia, March 31, 1923

I want to talk business and tell you of a new organization in which I have invested my all…the Alex and Virginia Company.  Strictly Limited, chartered in 1923 under the laws of Romance and Fairyland, with a paid-up stock of

100,000 Kisses, First Preferred Stock

100,000 Caresses, next and 2^nd Preferred,

100,000 Glances in Public- just Common Stock.

The first preferred pays dividends in thrills and longings and desires.  And the Second Preferred is almost as valuable—The two together make Heaven.  The Common Stock is only issued when there is a public present.  I’ve divided all the stock between us and no one is ever to have even the fraction of a share—Tu comprends—tu acceptes, mon ange?

–Alexander toVirginia, April 19, 1923

(Speaking of her family’s concern over their quickly approaching nuptials) …so much of our lives is gone, –such a pitiful bit remains for each other that I am ready to risk a mistake, –for the sake of having every possible day together.

–Virginia to Alexander, April 21, 1923

I wish I were a girl, Alex dear, to float up that aisle to you all tulle and orange blossoms…I love you with every bit of me, I want the shelter of your arms, –my place on your heart—in your heart.  Isn’t that all that matters, dear?

–Virginia to Alexander, no date

Though, like any relationship, this one had stressors—He feeling overwhelmed by her higher social and economic class, she admitting to being churlish at times—Virginia and Alex never gave up on their love.  Tragically and romantically cut short at the hand of a terrible accident, it is survived by their eternal presence next to each other in Hollywood Cemetery and the wonderfully expressive love letters kept at the VHS.

Kathryn Campbell is assistant site manager at Virginia House, once owned by Alexander and Virginia Weddell and given to the Virginia Historical Society after their death.

VHS enters the world of distance learning with HistoryConnects!

Showing the students in New Albany, Indiana how the Powhatan Indians would utilize all parts of the deer.

Last month the Virginia Historical Society took a giant step into the world of distance learning by conducting its first successful HistoryConnects program! After a long trail marked with a couple of false starts, some technological upgrades, and a fairly steep learning curve,Evan Liddiard and Jennifer Nesossis connected with Mt. Tabor Elementary in New Albany,Indiana, and spent a little more than an hour discussing Pocahontas and the Powhatan Indians. Scott Burch, the teacher from Mt. Tabor, was impressed with our initial outing: “If I hadn’t been told that it was your first broadcast, I would have never been able to tell.” The program consisted of examination of both the John Smith map and some of the John White watercolors, along with discussion of what life was like for the Powhatan Indians at the point of contact through the use of replica artifacts. The program allowed the students to see high definition details of both the primary sources and the artifacts, and that really fueled the spirit of inquiry. The third and fourth grade students were engaged and interested, with more quality questions and observations than time allowed.

The "brains" of the operation!

HistoryConnects is a new distance learning initiative from the VHS designed to expand the audience for our educational offerings. Using Interactive Video Conferencing equipment, we are able to connect with classrooms not only in Virginia but also throughout the country or the world! We have transformed our traditional outreach programs into a digitally based interaction, with students learning about a variety of subjects, examining primary and secondary sources, and investigating replica artifacts with the guidance of one of the VHS educators. Institutions that have the equipment and that are interested in programming or collaborations subscribe to a free clearinghouse, called the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC), and are able to book programs and send requests. The CILC also handles the collection of demographic data and program evaluations. For the spring 2012 semester, we offer six different programs, and plan on having a catalog of ten to twelve choices for schools for the upcoming academic year. We have nearly forty programs booked this semester, with a fairly even split between Virginia schools and other institutions around the country. We have made connections with schools as far away as California and Canada and as close as Spotsylvania County,Virginia. On May 16, the VHS was selected to be a part of a nationwide program on the contributions of and effects on individual states during the American Civil War. Our program is expected to be seen by more than 5,000 students from across the country!

For more information about the HistoryConnects program, or the VHS outreach education in general, please contact Evan Liddiard at 804-342-9689 or eliddiard@vahistorical.org.

Unknown No Longer Debuts!

Lauranett Lee, Ph.D., curator of African American history.

Unknown No Longer is a database of the names of all the enslaved Virginians that appear in our unpublished documents. Thanks to a generous grant from Dominion Resources and the Dominion Foundation in January 2011, we launched the online database  in September 2011.  To recognize Black History Month, a series of workshops will be offered.

In 2011, I began working with our archival records with a single-minded focus on slavery. The Virginia Historical Society’s rich collections afford me the opportunity to look at a variety of documents that record the unknown, though not unnamed, people who were considered property.

To be candid, this is a hard subject to study. The onerous nature of slavery offends my sensibilities in every way. In fact, during graduate school my focus was on the Reconstruction era. Yet, when the opportunity to delve into our collections to extract the names of enslaved people was presented to me, I saw the lasting value in creating a genealogical tool to help people find their ancestors.

My days are spent poring over old documents, deciphering scrawl and chicken-scratch. If I am lucky I get a legibly written document, and if I am really lucky, I get a beautifully penned document. However they come to me I am humbled and honored to transcribe the names of so many people who deserve the dignity of identity.

Attend a workshop to learn how to use Unknown No Longer: A Virginia Slave Name Database. My colleague, Paige Newman, Assistant Archivist, and I will highlight some of their research findings and provide tips on how to navigate the database. Workshops are free and open to the public. Reservations are required and space is limited. To register for workshops online, visit www.vahistorical.org/news/unlworkshop.htm

Join us at:
The Virginia Historical Society on Saturday, Feb. 4 @ 11 a.m.
The Hampton History Museum on Monday, Feb. 6 @ 6 p.m.
The Lyceum: Alexandria’s History Museum on Tuesday, Feb. 21 @ 7 p.m.
The Staunton Library on Library on Wednesday, Feb. 22 @ 3 or 6:30 p.m.

Much thanks to Dominion for funding that made possible this project and the following workshops on how to use the database.

Bidding adieu to 2011

It seems that you can’t turn around at this time of year without encountering some annual wrap-up or another.  We learn picks for best books, best movies, most fascinating people, and so on.  Well, we at the VHS are in a reflective mode as well as 2011 comes hurtling to a close.  And as the calendar turns, there is much about which we are very proud.

Andrew Talkov installing an exhibit in "An American Turning Point."

Certainly a highlight of the year was the exhibition, An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia.  As regular readers of this blog know, ATP was our contribution to the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.   Five years in the making, it is our largest, most ambitious exhibition ever.  And though its run in Richmond ends on December 30, it will hit the road for the next four years, making seven other stops across Virginia.  I am proud that the incredibly hard work of many VHS staff members will be seen by thousands of Virginians between now and 2015.

It has been gratifying to see so many visitors—the most in a decade—pour through our doors over the past year.  Many of them came to see ATP, but others came for the host of other things the VHS offers.  Once again our lecture series was a huge success.  Seventeen Banner Lectures offered stimulating midday programs, and our roster of evening lectures grew by one with the inaugural Chauncey

Lecture in September.  If you didn’t make it to an exhibition or lecture in 2011, perhaps you took one of our new Behind-the-Scenes tours, brought your kids or grandkids to Stories at the Museum, attended an evening See You in Class session, stopped by our Family Open House in July, or went with us on a VHS bus trip to locations far from our Richmond headquarters.  Or maybe you simply spent the day using our rich collections to investigate your family’s history in our library.    If for any reason you found yourself at the VHS in 2011, my colleagues and I thank you.

And if you didn’t make it by to see us, I hope we can offer you some reason to do so in the new year.  We have a whole slate of exciting new programs on tap, from exhibitions and lectures to trips and classes.  And of course, there are things ongoing that you also might want to check out.  For example, you will be able to see conservators in action as they restore the grandeur of

One of the the conservators treating the murals

our Charles Hoffbauer Civil War murals.  But even if you can’t visit in person, I know that you’ll find VHS online offerings of great interest. Keep checking back as we add innovative video features and other cool things to our web site.  Or you might want to bookmark “Unknown No Longer,” our database of Virginia slave names, as new material will be added to it on a regular basis.

As you can see, we have a lot going on at the VHS as we tell Virginia’s peerless story.  I hope that 2012 is a wonderful year for this institution and for all of you.

From Paul A. Levengood, President and Chief Executive Officer

Blackbeard is Back with a History Lesson

Pirate Ship by ACR

This past July, I helped man the children’s activity tables at the VHS Family Open House.  A nine-year-old boy drew this picture and gave it to me.  I guess he didn’t want to color the supplied images of a cardinal, dogwood, and other things related to Virginia.

I was pleasantly surprised and asked him what was going on.  He told me it was a pirate ship and that one of the pirates was bad, so the others took his bandanna and threw him overboard to meet his fate with a hammer head shark and a mechanical shark.  What imagination!

I thought, “How am I going to relate this to Virginia’s history?”  As regular crew for sailboat racing in Hampton, I knew a little about Blackbeard.  I asked the boy if he knew of this famous pirate.  He did, and we talked about how Blackbeard was a menace to shipping merchants along the mid-Atlantic colonies, was eventually killed off the coast of North Carolina, and that his head was cut off and suspended from a stick and brought up the Hampton River in Virginia as a warning to others who might be tempted by piracy.

Since then, I’ve done a little digging and found that this notorious English pirate’s name was Edward Thatch (Teach).  He most likely was born in Bristol around 1680 and was killed during a fierce battle off Ocracoke Island on November 22, 1718.  The governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, arranged—and personally financed—for a party of soldiers and sailors, led by Lt. Robert Maynard, to capture Blackbeard and his crew.  Blackbeard’s head was indeed brought back to Virginia, and suspended from the bowsprit of Lieutenant Maynard’s sloop, to collect the bounty.  Governor Spotswood had Blackbeard’s head hung from a pole at the mouth of the Hampton River, where it remained for many years.  The site continues to be known as Blackbeard’s Point today.

The VHS has quite a few items relating to Blackbeard in its collection, including this mid 20th century photographic print of an earlier engraving.

Photographic print of an engraving of Edward Teach, “Blackbeard” (d. 1718) (Virginia Historical Society, 2008.1.19)

Those of us in the field of public history, whether we teach, write, lecture, or even raise money, are challenged to make history relevant to the next generation.

A dramatic increase of recent pirate attacks off the east coast of Africa has made the news this year.  As in Blackbeard’s time, these modern-day pirates pose threats not only to shipping industries but also to recreational sailors.

I hope that my nine-year-old friend, even through his somewhat gruesome artwork, was able to distinguish real versus fantasy, and connect, if only for a moment, today’s current events to the history we all share.

Catherine A. Boe is the Senior Gifts Officer at the Virginia Historical Society.

History on the Road… Again

Next week is Thanksgiving, and once the leftover turkey is safely packed away in the fridge and we all awake from our tryptophan-induced comas, we’ll need to figure out how to entertain our friends and family over the long weekend.

I’m sure many of you are already planning on coming in to town to see Mummy: Secret of the Tomb at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. If you’re in the neighborhood on Saturday (November 26) you should also stop by the Virginia Historical Society (VHS) to see the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission’s Civil War 150th HistoryMobile (HM)—an interactive “museum on wheels” housed in a 53-foot expandable tractor-trailer.

Because “Civil War” is in my job title I had the opportunity to play a small part in the HM’s creation, and I came away with five song-inspired observations about the HM (and museum exhibitions in general) that I thought I’d share.

1. LOSE YOURSELF (Eminem, 2002)

Although I didn’t think it was possible, you actually forget you’re inside an iron box that, in another life, could have been in an episode of Ice Road Truckers. The three recreated environments inside the HM may only be suggestive of a battlefield, a planter’s home, and a slave quarter, but they do stir real emotions.

2. CAN’T TOUCH THIS (MC Hammer, 1990)

I sometimes forget that “interactive” isn’t always synonymous with “computer.” Although the HM features quite a bit of digital technology, I’m gratified to see that people still like to learn and explore by turning, flipping, and twisting things.

3. EVERYDAY PEOPLE (Sly and the Family Stone, 1968)

The last room of the HM, entitled Loss, Gain, & Legacy, features the stories of forty people whose lives were affected by the war in Virginia. Although history is frequently said to offer a window to the past, my work on the HM and on the gallery exhibition, An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia, suggests that we want history to be a mirror as well. We want to see ourselves reflected in the story. Although we look nothing alike, I’m drawn to the story of “Jack.”

4. THE WAY WE WERE (Barbara Streisand, 1973)

The stories in the HM may contradict what you thought you knew about the Civil War. That’s because the narrative of the war is constantly changing. Born of an incomplete historical record and often contradicting accounts, our history is a complex jumble of fact and fiction. The daily discovery of new information, however, allows our understanding of the past to become more complete with each generation of historians.

5. WE’VE ONLY JUST BEGUN (The Carpenters, 1970)

The story of Virginia’s Civil War is huge, and you wouldn’t think it could all fit in a 53-foot-long trailer. Guess what? You’re right! The HM is not intended to be the last word on the American Civil War, but we hope that for some people it may be the first of many.

Don’t take my word for it. Come and see it for yourself and then let me know what you thought of your experience by leaving a comment.

Stories at the Museum is fun for the entire family!

Children listen to the story of When Marian Sang

Are you looking for something fun and educational to do with your family? Then visit the Virginia Historical Society for Stories at the Museum!

In February, the VHS started a free family program called Stories at the Museum. This fall, Target is helping to sponsor the series. Every Wednesday at 4 p.m., museum staff members read a children’s story to families in a different location in the museum galleries. After the story, we walk to the education classroom and create a craft related to the book. We crafted Styrofoam mice when we read Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale during National Hispanic Heritage month, we created our own newspapers when we read Amelia and Eleanor during Women’s History month, and we even made tea cups out of model magic when we read Chachaji’s Cup during Asian Pacific American Heritage month!

Families create crafts in the education classroom.

Each month, the books we read revolve around a different theme. In October, we read stories about Dolley Madison, Arthur Ashe, George Washington Carver, and Eleanor Roosevelt. How cool is it that children can learn about all of these great historical figures and have fun at the same time? All of the books we choose to read have an SOL connection and can be found in your local library or bookstore.

I think this is a fantastic program! Wednesday is now my favorite day of the week! I love knowing that Stories at the Museum is helping children learn about history and giving them a passion for reading and that I get to be part of that process!

Children gather around a museum educator to listen to a story about Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Don’t just take my word for it, read some of the feedback we have been receiving from parents and children.

 “Thank you so much! My kids loved this! It was their favorite thing to do all week!”

“I liked reading the books and doing the crafts!”

“I loved the stories being read in the museum gallery space. It feels like an old time experience!”

“Story reading at different spots in the museum was an awesome way to explore the VHS. The crafts were wonderful!”

“So delightful in our crazy and fast paced world!”

From now until December 14, stop by the Virginia Historical Society at 4 pm for Stories at the Museum. I hope to see you next Wednesday!

Visit www.vahistorical.org/education/stories.htm for more information! No reservations required!

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Celebrate Virginia Archives Month!

Archives Month celebrates those institutions and individuals that help preserve and make accessible records of our actions as citizens, businesses, religious groups, governments, and society.

To honor Archives Month, the Virginia Historical Society will be participating in the Archives Fair at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The theme for 2011 is “Celebrating Advocacy for Archives.” VHS archivists will be educating participants about the society’s manuscript and archival holdings and answering any questions about archives and preservation. The Virginia Archives Fair gathers archival institutions in central Virginia to illustrate the wide breadth of primary source materials available to researchers and interested parties.

In addition to the VHS, participating institutions include: Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Library of Virginia, Museum of the Confederacy, Newport News Library, Norfolk Southern Archives, Old Dominion University, Randolph-Macon College, Rockefeller Library at Colonial Williamsburg, UVA Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, Valentine Richmond History Center, VCU James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Tompkins-McCaw Library, Virginia State University, and Virginia Union University.

The event will take place on the first floor of the VCU James Cabell Library on Friday, October 28 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Join us!

Give to Live, Live to Give

In less than a week, the Virginia Historical Society (VHS) and more than 300 nonprofits     across the Tri-Cities and Greater Richmond region will be taking part in the Amazing Raise 2011. Starting at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 5th, and ending at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 6th, this 36-hour online give-a-thon via GiveRichmond.org is an opportunity for donors to help turn their donations into a grand prize of $10,000 for their favorite nonprofit.

Whether it is in making a gift of $50 during this event or in sharing this link, this 36-hour Amazing Raise challenge reminds all of us that we can make a difference.

While preparing for this event here at the VHS, I did some digging in our online catalog and found some inspirational materials, both manuscript collections and articles that document philanthropists from Virginia’s past and present. Some of these examples include:

•  A 1907 monetary donation from Andrew Carnegie in honor of Mary Custis Lee to the Home For Needy Confederate Women. (Mss1 L5144 a 1873-2138)

• The Sydney and Frances Lewis collection, which documents the couples’ interest in theater, dance, and the arts and their various philanthropic activities (Mss1 L5888 b FA2)
• A more recent nonprofit organization is the Central Virginia Fallen Biker Committee, Inc. This organization was founded in 2009 to provide assistance and support to bikers suffering illness, injury, or death. (Mss4 C3337 a 1)
• And the manuscript collection of the Virginia Home for Boys. (Mss3 V81954 a)

After looking at these collections, I realized a few things. Without philanthropy, communities cannot thrive. Philanthropy is not a profession, but a way of life that makes living better for others.  The results of philanthropy are beyond calculation.

I invite you to join our VHS team for this challenge. There are no benchwarmers!

Elaine Hagy is the senior grants officer at the Virginia Historical Society

Vulgar Fractions

Asya Simons, digitization intern, Summer 2011

The following blog was written by Asya Simons who just completed her summer internship with the web and digital resources department at the VHS.  This is the last in a series of entries that she has written about her internship and specifically on her experience working on Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names, which launches on September 15, 2011.

Enjoy! 

~Meg M. Eastman, digital collections manager

Periodically the Virginia Historical Society will post content created by guest writers. The opinions expressed are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Virginia Historical Society, its members, or its staff. The Virginia Historical Society encourages discussion; however, we reserve the right to remove posts that are offensive, threatening, or insulting.

I’ve never liked math. It can easily be called my worst subject; one I avoided at all costs until my high school graduation. Even when it came to college, I think I subconsciously chose a school with lax math requirements. That’s why I was amazed when I became fascinated with an arithmetic book in the collections of the Virginia Historical Society.

I first came across the book as a document that needed to be photographed for Unknown No Longer, the society’s slave name database. On the very last page was a deed containing a slave’s name, and for the project, that’s all I was interested in. I couldn’t help flipping through the book, however, as I passed the time in between photographs, and I realized I had never thought about math books existing in any form other than traditional textbooks. Sure, the book contained multiplication and division, and each section began with instructions, but it seemed to be geared toward farmers to assist with their business transactions.

Addition of Apothocary Weight, Cloth Measure, Dry Measure and Liquid Measure (Virginia Historical Society, Mss5:4 H3835:1, pages 4-5)

One of the first pages offers ways to add apothecary weights, cloth lengths, dry measurements and liquid measurements, followed by respective subtraction methods. The reader is given an opportunity to practice their new skills with word problems. The last word problem before learning multiplication employs history as well as arithmetic; it asks, “Gen. Washington died in 1799 how long has he been dead.” I wish my textbooks were that straightforward!

Word problem (Virginia Historical Society, Mss5:4 H3835:1, page 12)

The book then goes on to teach multiplication, division, simple and compounded interest, geometry, and “vulgar fractions.” Since I had never heard a math teacher refer to fractions as “vulgar” before, I was interested to find out what that term meant. I was slightly disappointed to find out that they were no more than fractions expressed as ¾, rather than in decimal form.

Vulgar Fractions (Virginia Historical Society, Mss5:4 H3835:1, page 142)

As the summer comes to a close and I prepare to head back to school, I know I still won’t be voluntarily taking a math course, and I’ll still cringe a little bit when I come across “vulgar” fractions from day to day. However, from now on, every arithmetic book I see will remind me that years ago those numbers represented a person’s livelihood. I am reminded that, even today, there has to be a practical application for all those formulas somewhere out there. Maybe math isn’t completely pointless after all.

The arithmetic book discussed here was kept by John Henderson (b. 1802) in Spotsylvania County, Va from 1817-1824 (Virginia Historical Society, Mss5:4 H3835:1).