Home > Exhibitions

The President’s Photographer: Fifty Years Inside the Oval Office - Through July 8, 2013
John F. Kennedy was the first president to have an official photographer, and nearly every president since has had one. Photographic images have become an increasingly critical tool in how we understand our presidents. This National Geographic exhibition features dozens of rarely seen images of recent U.S. presidents through the eyes of their official photographers. Featuring images taken in tense times and on joyous occasions, during official meetings and at informal moments, the show explores the role of the president’s photographer, documenting for history every possible aspect of presidency. Label copy accompanying each image offers a fresh and candid viewpoint on life and work from the photographer. The exhibition also includes the National Geographic documentary about Pete Souza, President Obama’s chief White House photographer.

End of an Era: The Photography of Jack Jeffers - Through May 26, 2013
This exhibition features more than twenty silver sulfide prints by award-winning naturalist photographer and Farmville, Virginia, native Jack Jeffers. The images depicted were taken in Virginia’s Blue Ridge region in the late 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. They showcase Virginia’s rugged mountain people, weather-beaten structures, and well-hidden Appalachian landscapes. All of the text is taken from stories Jack Jeffers tells about what he experienced when photographing the people and places. Visitors get to learn about the subject of each image through the artist’s own words. View PDF Announcement

What Remains of Edward Beyer’s Blue Ridge: Landscapes of Salem and Liberty - Through December 30, 2013
In the 1850s, German artist Edward Beyer traveled throughout western Virginia and painted landscapes of many of the small towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains. These paintings are remarkable not only for their beauty but also their attention to detail. This exhibition uses Beyer’s landscapes as documents to compare the bustling communities of the middle nineteenth century with the Blue Ridge towns today.

Revolutions: Songs of Social Change, 1860–65 and 1960–65 - Opens June 29, 2013
The show will take a comparative look at the two periods of strife and how they both inspired the music of their time. The exhibition, using items mostly from the society’s collection of sheet music plus audiovisual components, will compare songs from the 1860s with those from the 1960s. The Revolutions exhibition is made possible by a partnership with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission.

The Great Western Virginia Cover-Up: Historic Quilts & Bedcovers - Opens August 3, 2013
The Great Western Virginia Cover-Up is an exhibition that showcases the region’s bedcover-making traditions from the 1700s to 1950. The show will include more than twenty premier examples of “whitework” spreads, album quilts, Virginia Rose quilts, crazy quilts, and the exceedingly rare bed rugs. This is a traveling exhibition created by Ferrum College’s Blue Ridge Institute and Museum.

Virginians at Work - Long-term
This exhibition examines how Virginians have made a living and why jobs have changed over time.

The Story of Virginia, an American Experience - Long-term
See on display 16,000 years of Virginia history from prehistoric times to the present.

The Virginia Manufactory of Arms Collection - Long-term
This exhibition presents weapons made in Richmond from 1802 through 1821.

Solving History's Mysteries: The History Discovery Lab - Long-term
This interactive exhibit introduces visitors to the principles and techniques of archaeology.

Silver in Virginia - Long-term
See on display vintage silver produced throughout the commonwealth.

• All long-term exhibitions

An American Turning Point - Traveling
From 1861 through 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 war. This exhibition encourages visitors to consider how a single event, separated from us by 150 years, so fundamentally reshaped American society that its impact is still experienced today. What was gained by the Civil War, what was lost, and what is left for us to resolve? view schedule

Getting the Message Out: Presidential Campaign Memorabilia from the Collection of Allen A. Frey
Every election has a page dedicated to it and includes memorabilia and a concise summary of the major features of the election. Items in this online exhibition are from the Allen Frey Collection. view exhibit

An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia
From 1861 through 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 war. This exhibition encourages visitors to consider how a single event, separated from us by 150 years, so fundamentally reshaped American society that its impact is still experienced today. What was gained by the Civil War, what was lost, and what is left for us to resolve? view exhibit

The Story of Virginia, an American Experience
This new version of The Story of Virginia covers 16,000 years of Virginia history from prehistoric times to the present and features a virtual tour and more than 30 videos. view exhibit

Political Campaigning: From the Collection of Allen Frey
Dr. Allen Frey's collection of American presidential campaign materials demonstrates that politicians and campaigns of the past were as vitriolic as they are today.  view exhibit

The Portent: John Brown's Raid in American Memory
Tells the story of John Brown's early life, his fervent religious beliefs, his turn to violence as an abolitionist in Kansas, and his Virginia raid and its aftermath view exhibit

Teaching with Photographs
Features photographs that address themes in post-1865 Virginia and American history such as education, industrialization, urbanization, transportation, the changing roles of women, the development of Jim Crow, and the civil rights movement learn more

175 Years of Collecting: A Virginia History Quiz
Test your knowledge of Virginia history with this online quiz on selected items from the Society's collections.

The Civil Rights Movement in Virginia
Chronicles the tumultuous journey from "Jim Crow" to a commonwealth of greater equality

Early Images of Virginia Indians
Traces how European perceptions of native Virginians were shaped through the printed image

Heads and Tales
Heads and Tales presents portraits of five people with compelling personal stories. view exhibit

Jamestown to the Falls
Traces the English expeditions up the James River to the falls and Powhatan country, 1607–1610

Lee and Grant
Documents and images offer a glimpse of each man as he understood himself and his place in the world.

Virginia's Colonial Dynasties
Explores how portraiture helped establish and preserve family status in colonial times

Virginia's Diplomats
Explores Virginians' role in shaping world politics from the founding of the republic until our own day

• All online exhibitions