“Change on the Horizon”

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Think you know Richmond? Take our online quiz and find out! Many new and exciting changes are on the horizon for the Valentine Richmond History Center. 

One of the most important changes will be the redesign and remodeling of current gallery space in anticipation of a new exhibition on the history of Richmond.  This new exhibit will replace the current display, “Settlement to Streetcar Suburbs: Richmond, Virginia and Its People.”  It is a tremendous undertaking and the challenge for the staff is to craft a showcase that tells a composite and inclusive history of this city and its residents, as well as the metropolitan area Richmond supports. 

Despite the promise this new opportunity holds, a very important question looms:  in a city with so rich and so diverse a history, how do you tell the whole story?  Of course there are the founding settlers like William Byrd II and Thomas Stegg.  Then you have the national notables like Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall, whose legacies and landmarks remain in Richmond.  What about the stories that fall through the cracks?  Should people know more about Richmond’s industrial past, and how the processing and sale of goods like tobacco, flour, iron, and, regrettably, slaves drove the city’s early economic success?  How about the pioneering German families as well as Richmond’s Irish and Jewish population? What of Maggie Walker and Lillie Payne? Of the Theater Fire of 1811, the burning of Richmond, and the civil rights protests of 1869, 1904, and the 1960s?

In an effort to address these questions and many others, the History Center received a grant from the Philip Morris Foundation in support of an innovative preparation and planning process for the new exhibit.  The first phase of the initiative enlisted the support and input of area preservation groups, including the Historic Richmond Foundation, the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, the Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods (ACORN), as well as the historical societies of Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico, and Goochland Counties.  Various survey instruments and questionnaires have been circulated with the members of these organizations to begin a conversation about the perceptions, problems and opportunities involved in telling Richmond’s history.

This represents the beginning of a larger and much more public conversation the Valentine Richmond History Center will initiate with the broader Richmond community in the coming months. I know Richmond is one method by which we will gauge the public’s current knowledge of Richmond history and expand the conservation that was started among smaller focus groups. 

Images:
Top: Lila Meade Valentine. Valentine Richmond History Center. L.69.27.1.

Left: (Left to right) Gilbert Hunt, 1449; William Foushee, 4201. Cook Collection, Valentine Richmond History Center.