Making the Virginia Twist

Accession number: 1990.15

"Making the Virginia Twist" was painted by John Durkin for an 1887 magazine article about the tobacco industry in Richmond and Danville. In Virginia, twist chewing tobacco was made by twisting leaves into a tight rope sold by the foot or yard. Short workers stood on rollers to bring them to a comfortable and productive height.

Image rights owned by the Virginia Historical Society. Rights and reproductions