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Primary Source of the Month

This 30 minute program will introduce your students to a different primary source each month. Through a guided inquiry process, the students will engage in primary source analysis and interpret the importance of the primary source, and place it in historical context. The source will be aligned to both the Virginia and national standards, and will also be paired with replica artifacts to help illuminate the meaning. This interactive program will end with a period for questions and answers.

This is a monthly program offered during the school year. You may request the full year, either semester, or individual programs:

• Individual programs:$50 per 30 minute program ($25 for Virginia schools);
• Fall semester package (September through January): $200 ($100 for Virginia schools);
20% savings;
• Spring semester package (February through June): $200 ($100 for Virginia schools);
20% savings;
• Full year package (September through June): $350 ($175 for Virginia schools);
30% savings;
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Pocahontas and the Powhatan Indians

Much of what historians now know about the Indians we call "the Powhatans" is derived from English sources, as the Powhatans had not written language.

Using primary sources as well as replica artifacts created by Mattaponi Indians, students will learn about what life was like in Virginia before the first English settlers made it their home. Students will identify the various natural resources used by Native American men, women, and children to make their tools and clothing. Students will also be engaged in a discussion about Pocahontas and the myths associated with her.
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The Pursuit of Liberty: Virginia and the Revolutionary War

In 1763, Virginia stood as one of the central colonies in Great Britain's empire. Twenty years later the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending a military and social revolution. Our understanding of freedom, liberty, patriotism, and nation today is directly related to the roles Virginians played in establishing American independence.

This program examines the economic and government structure of colonial Virginia, explores the impacts of British taxes and tariffs on the colonials, and investigates the roles of Virginians in declaring independence and waging the Revolutionary War. The audience will examine specific individuals and situations to promote an understanding of the wartime experiences of Virginians, and those who served in Virginia, during the war. Famous Virginians such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Mason will be discussed as well as lesser known individuals like Anna Maria Lane and James Lafayette.

The interactive program will use primary sources including manuscripts, maps, and portraits, along with replica artifacts to examine the change in Virginia from a British colony to a state in the newly formed Replublic.
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Virginia and the Westward Movement

This program examines the nineteenth-century movement of Virginians to the West and their contributions to settling the American frontier. Using primary sources from Virginians who traveled west, along with reproductions of objects that might have been found on a settler's Conestoga wagon, students interpret the great migration from Virginia in the decades before the Civil War.
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An American Turning Point

From 1861 to 1865 Virginia stood at the center of a military and social revolution. How we define freedom, liberty, patriotism, and nation today is directly related to the diverse experiences of the individuals who participated in the Civil War.

This program will present highlights of the "An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia" exhibition. Using original objects, interactive technology, and state-of-the-art audiovisual programs, the exhibition relates the personal experiences of the free and enslaved men, women, and children of wartime Virginia.

During the course of the program, the audience will be encouraged to consider what was lost, what was gained, what was decided, what was left uncertain, and how an event that occurred 150 years ago still influences us today. The audience will also examine specific individuals and situations to promote an understanding of the wartime experiences of Virginians, and those who served in Virginia, during the war.

An American Turning Point is a signature program of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission.
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The Civil War Soldier

Students will explore the everyday experience of a Civil War soldier, focusing on aspects of camp life such as clothing, food, and letters from home. From the perspective of those who fought, students will gain insight into the war and its consequences. This program involves the active participation of the entire class as students: investigate the trials and hardships of a Civil War soldier, examine similarities and differences of equipment used by the Union and Confederate soldiers, draw their own conclusions of what it may have been like to carry these items during the four seasons of the year without modern transportation, examine primary and secondary sources of objects and letters, discuss the effect the war had on Virginians and their country, and explore the contributions made by women, slaves and children, whether they worked side by side with the soldiers or helped to maintain the home front while the men were away.
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Snapshots in Time: Virginia in the 20th Century
(Industry and Agriculture)

"Snapshots in Time" is an in-depth examination of digitized images from the Virginia Historical Society's collection that can be used to address themes in post–1865 Virginia and American history. These images address historical changes in areas of industry and agriculture, including the effects that these changes had on education, industrialization, urbanization, transportation, and the changing roles of women. There is a companion program of Snapshots in Time with a focus on changes in education and Massive Resistance in Virginia.

Students will be introduced to the idea of photographs as an important historical primary source. The instructor will lead them through several photographs, fostering a process of inquiry and providing background information.
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Snapshots in Time: Virginia in the 20th Century
(Education and Massive Resistance)

"Snapshots in Time" is an in-depth examination of digitized images from the Virginia Historical Society's collection that can be used to address themes in post–1865 Virginia and American history. These images address historical change in Virginia’s education system, including the Massive Resistance movement and effects that these changes had on education, industrialization, urbanization, transportation, and the changing roles of women. There is a companion program of Snapshots in Time with a focus on changes in industry and agriculture in Virginia.

Students will be introduced to the idea of photographs as an important historical primary source. The instructor will lead them through several photographs, fostering a process of inquiry and providing background information.
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Virtual Tour: The Story of Virginia

Virtual tours of the Virginia Historical Society's award-winning exhibition, The Story of Virginia, are tailored to meet the requirements of grade-specific standards of learning (SOLs). The virtual tour format is a blend of presentation and question and answer, which allows for comprehensive SOL reviews for the students. Choose a comprehensive tour of the exhibition, or treat a topic in more depth. Either option allows students to explore the triumphs and tragedies of the history of the commonwealth and the nation.

The Story of Virginia: From Native American Virginia through the 20th Century
The Story of Virginia: From Native American Virginia to the Civil War
The Story of Virginia: From Native American Virginia through the Civil War
The Story of Virginia: From the Civil War through the Twentieth Century
The Story of Virginia: The Civil Rights Movement in Virginia

While the virtual tours have been aligned to Virginia standards of learning, the tours also meet national standards, and are appropriate for students of all ages from all locales. Additionally, virtual tours of The Story of Virginia can be designed for any group with special emphasis on African American history, women's history, government, economics, or primary sources. Any special requests should be made at the time of booking the program.
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HistoryConnects P.S.I. Primary Source Investigations are programs that are more primary source driven than our other HistoryConnects programs. These programs are developed from the manuscripts collections at the Virginia Historical Society and are better suited for higher level secondary students and adult audiences.

John Robertson Maben and the Search for California Gold

In 1849, John Robertson Maben traveled to California in search of gold. In a series of thirteen letters, Maben describes his travels to his wife, Sarah. These letters are especially vivid as Maben was witness to events both momentous and mundane. He wrote of the cholera epidemic of 1849, the great St. Louis fire that same year, and the excitement and brutality of the California gold fields. In this program, students will join Maben on his journey, interpreting his letters, tracing his travels on a nineteenth-century map, and examining the landscape.
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Saving Private Scott

Sometime on September 17, 1862, Private Benjamin I. Scott of the 18th Virginia Infantry was killed at the battle of Antietam. However, his fate remained unknown as his body was one of almost 300,000 that remained unidentified in the Civil War. In this program, students will explore a mother's agonizing search for her missing son as revealed in the letters of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Union General Joseph Hooker, and a number of the other Union and Confederate officers as they tried to determine Private Scott's fate. The story of Private Scott has been published recently in the Pulitzer Prize-winning work, This Republic of Suffering. Students will examine the differences between primary and secondary sources.
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