The Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond has reopened after closing for two years during the pandemic for renovations. Established by the Virginia Historical Society, the museum is a frequent stop for those exploring the history of Richmond although it was criticized in the past for reinforcing Lost Cause interpretation of the Civil War and Reconstruction. The museum is housed in a building once called “Battle Abbey” that was designed as a reliquary of the Confederacy. The Virginia Historical Society took over the building after World War II, but for decades it continued to display Confederate imagery in the architecture. According to a report in the Virginia Pilot:
“We can no longer live in a world in which we house these treasures and just expect that people will come to them and appreciate them in a way that’s productive,” said Jamie Bosket, president and CEO of the museum.
For visitors that means interactive experiences in more than a dozen galleries, an orientation theater, and a projection wall of Virginia landscapes. The 250,000-square-foot building contains 50% more exhibition space, offering long- and short-term exhibits.
The theater was the first stop during my recent visit. An engrossing 17-minute film presents the sweep of the state’s history, 16,000 years of human habitation leading to today’s Virginia, a melding of three continents: North America, Europe and Africa.
My next stop was “Our Commonwealth,” a new exhibit that divides the state into five regions. At Tidewater, a huge projection screen displaying a harbor with sailing ships dominates the wall.
Photos, panels and artifacts showcase the region’s culture, cuisine, history and industry. In one corner are models of a sailboat, fishing boat and barge, and a life-size dory boat. Oyster tongs, crab pots and duck decoys illustrate the importance of fresh and saltwater to the region.
Of course, Tidewater is more than life on the water. Smithfield hams, the Navy tradition and even Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water festival are among the exhibits. A touch screen gives recipes for crab cakes, ham and peanut soup.
These displays were created in partnership with the Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News and the Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society. (In addition to Tidewater, the regions are Northern Virginia, Central Virginia, Southwest Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.)
Another exhibit I enjoyed was “Treasures of Virginia,” a display of extraordinary items that helped define the state. My eye was immediately drawn to a lunch counter and stools from the Woolworth’s store in Richmond where civil rights activists staged a protest in 1960. Nearby is George Washington’s diary from his first term as president.
The emphasis on ordinary people is evident in the “History Matters” exhibit, where regular objects are on display. Green sneakers worn at a wedding, a stuffed animal that created lasting memories of someone’s childhood and a varsity letter are among them.
“We have to acknowledge that history is personal, and people need to be a part of the story,” Bosket said. ”Artifacts and stories that you’ll see represented now in this museum are not just the famous ones that you would expect but they are stories of all Virginians.”
Examples of 20th and 21st-century folk art are on display at the “Visionary Virginians” exhibit. These paintings, carvings, ceramics and statues are from the collection of William and Ann Oppenhimer. My favorite was the whimsical “Swan Lake” by Uncle Jack Dey, a painter born in Hampton’s Phoebus, who used brightly colored enamel model airplane paint as his medium. White swans and ducks stand out in sharp contrast to blue water, while black birds soar above a wall of green trees.
The “Commonwealth Explorers” gallery offers interactive exhibits for children. They can dress up like a historic Virginian or investigate the plants and animals of the state. At a food truck they can smell the aromas of Virginia-grown foods.
Previous visitors to the museum may remember “The Story of Virginia,” an exhibition that covers 16,000 years of history from the earliest inhabitants to the present day. This permanent exhibit features more than 500 objects — paintings, clothing, diaries, maps and other artifacts. They are divided into seven time periods, which I found helpful: That lets me concentrate on the periods in which I’m most interested.
One display shows the paradox of the emerging post-Civil War South: an actual Richmond electric streetcar (destination Belmont) symbolizes how Virginia was transformed by modern technology, yet still hampered by racial segregation. A 1906 state law forced African Americans to sit at the back of vehicles such as this.
A new artifact in this exhibition is John Marshall’s judicial robe, beautifully restored. Marshall, born in Fauquier County, was the influential fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, from 1801 into 1835. Many of the decisions from the Marshall court upheld the supremacy of the federal government over the states. A portrait of Marshall is nearby.
In telling the story of Virginia, you can’t ignore the Civil War, especially in light of the recent controversies surrounding how we remember it.
“The Story of Virginia” tells us about the people engulfed by the war, such as James Edward Hanger from Churchville, a Confederate soldier and the war’s first documented amputee, who designed the articulated Hanger limb with a hinged knee and foot. His prosthetics company still exists. Or Elizabeth Keckley, born enslaved near Petersburg, who was brutalized during her childhood and eventually purchased her freedom. She became Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker and confidante, and after the Civil War published her autobiography.
Another new exhibition, “The Lost Cause: Myths, Monuments, and Murals,” shows how the Civil War has been remembered. On display are a sculpture of Robert E. Lee and the four murals of “Four Seasons of the Confederacy,” by Charles Hoffbauer and commissioned by the Confederate Memorial Association. Painted between 1913 and 1920, the murals tell a lot about romanticized views of the Confederacy common in the early 20th century.
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