Media Images
Bizarre Bits: Oddities from the Collection
• On display through March 27, 2011
Bizarre things have crept into the Virginia Historical Society's collections since its founding in 1831. These peculiar, perplexing, or even grotesque objects provide insight into the hopes, fears, assumptions, and practices of the past that are foreign to us today. Historical items range from the bullet that killed the first Confederate officer, nails from the part of the Capitol that collapsed in 1870, a list of knights at an 1865 joust, fungus carved with the likeness of R. E. Lee on Traveller, "Junior Partner" cigarettes in their original pack featuring an image of a child, a 6,000 year old piece of wood from the Canary Islands, and a silhouette cut by an armless Virginia woman with her mouth. Personal items include pieces of James Madison's hair, letters telling of fingernail clippings sent by a 19th century naval officer to his wife as tokens of endearment, and a smallpox scab taken from an infant in 1876.
• Press release
The images on this page are for media use only. All other uses are prohibited. Please review conditions of use, and credit images as indicated in the captions. To obtain password to access high-resolution images, please contact: Jennifer Guild, Senior Officer for Public Relations and Marketing, jguild@vahistorical.org, Tel: 804.342.9665.
High resolution
300 dpi JPG (1.3 m) |
Fungus carving of Robert E. Lee on Traveller
Early 20th century
This carving in fungus of Robert E. Lee on Traveller is perhaps the most bizarre of the Virginia Historical Society’s memorabilia of the Lost Cause. Lee, who in his life had resisted his own postwar glorification, was made the patron saint of the Lost Cause and was so eulogized as the acme of perfection that his image became that of a "marble man." The fungus is signed "Frances Gibboney, Wytheville, Va." Gibboney (1867–1941) grew up in Wytheville, lived for periods in Tazewell and Marion, and by 1900 had moved back to Wytheville where she lived—unmarried—for the rest of her life. Gibboney is best known as a photographer, and for a short while, she operated a photography studio that did mostly individual and group portraits. She also painted and practiced taxidermy. This carving of Lee, which measures 3 inches tall, 9 inches wide, and 5 inches thick, was not the only piece of art Gibboney created on tree fungus.
Credit: Virginia Historical Society, 000.224 |
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300 dpi JPG (22 k) |
Small Pox scab
1876
Fear of smallpox pervaded the social consciousness of early Americans. Efforts at producing immunity through inoculation (introduction of a live virus in well persons) or vaccination (use of the less-virulent cowpox virus) were extensive well into the nineteenth century—but hardly systematic. Here are the remains of a scab removed from a baby and sent by William R. Massie to his father, Henry Massie, in Charlottesville on January 29, 1876, to inoculate family members and friends.
Credit: Virginia Historical Society, Mss1.M3855c |
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First bullet to kill a Confederate soldier
1861
On June 1, 1861, Union cavalry were reported at Accotink Creek in Fairfax County. In response, Virginia militia led by Capt. John Quincy Marr occupied Fairfax Courthouse. About 3 a.m., suddenly the quiet was broken by sounds of running horses and shouting riders. Marr’s men rushed out. One bullet fired by a cavalryman apparently ricocheted off the sidewalk and killed Marr. In 1904, when Marr’s remains were located and reinterred, this bullet was found.
Credit: Virginia Historical Society, 1990.100.297 |
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300 dpi JPG (467 k) |
Hair from James Madison's queue
1836
This strange-looking object was believed by its donor to be hair of James Madison, which the president gave as a keepsake to his sister Nellie, who was married to Isaac Hite of Belle Grove plantation near Winchester. A family note preserved with the queue describes it as "a very unusual heirloom."
Credit: Virginia Historical Society, 1999.76 |
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300 dpi JPG
(1.4 m)
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Slovenly Peter Reformed: Showing How He Became a Neat Scholar
1853
The Slovenly Peter picture books were a popular German series created to frighten naughty children into behaving. Written by a doctor for his young son and told in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm stories, these cautionary tales feature a disobedient boy whose wild appearance matches his behavior.
Credit: Virginia Historical Society, Rare PZ34.3.H699.1853 |
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300 dpi JPG
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Miss Honeywell's silhouettes
c. 1825–1835
Martha Ann Honeywell (c. 1787–c. 1848) of New Hampshire was born without hands or lower arms and with only one foot. From 1809 to 1848 she traveled the eastern U.S. as a parlor performer, making cuttings and doing needlework for small audiences. These two silhouettes—one of Christian B. Scott and the other of Kitty Henry Scott—were likely made at the same time. Each has the inscription "cut by M. Honeywell with the mouth."
Credit: Virginia Historical Society, 2009.1.49-51 |
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Members of the news media may use Virginia Historical Society photographs and images from our museum object and manuscript and archive collections with the following understanding:
1. Images are to be used for reporting purposes only (i.e., to support newspaper, magazine, trade publications, travel media, broadcast, and general news reporting).
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