Wikipedia:WikiProject Virginia/Library

Welcome to the WikiProject Virginia Resource Library! This page provides organized information guides and curated links to resources that might be useful in providing information, citations, and images to help build the various articles about Virginia subjects.

Most of the links are to the Internet Archive, a free-content repository which contains many high-resolution digital scans of original works, freely available for download. Links are for the benefit of the Virginia wikiproject, and should not be seen as an endorsement of any authors or organizations. Any assessment of an item's ultimate value to the Wikipedia project will rest with the editor who chooses to use it (and the broader community consensus).

For more help with finding resources, see WikiProject Resource Exchange, or visit your local library and consult the library reference desk.

Guidelines
In order to make the library as useful as possible for editors, all content on this page must:
 * be freely accessible to any reader (not behind a password or paywall); AND
 * be suitable for use as a reliable source for factual information OR a source of freely-licensed images; AND
 * be either public domain, freely licensed, or otherwise legally hosted at the destination site; AND
 * be non-commercial or historical (i.e. not promoting a current interest). Like the rest of Wikipedia, this is not a place for promotional links (see WP:NOT).

General reference and geography

 * Virginia county names : two hundred and seventy years of Virginia history (1908) by Charles M. Long
 * A Comprehensive Description of Virginia and the District of Columbia(1830s)
 * A Comprehensive Description of Virginia and the District of Columbia(1830s)

Newspapers
Chronicling America is a project of the Library of Congress that scans and hosts historical collections different newspapers that have fallen into the public domain (pre-1923). A list of the over 40 different newspapers' collections from Virginia may be found here. The optical-character search function is weak, but all collections may be browsed by date.

Historic sites
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR) is the official state agency charged with keeping the Virginia Landmarks Register and the designated State Historic Preservation Office for Virginia. It's website contains a complete and official list of National Register of Historic Places in Virginia, as well as digitized scans available online of most of the nomination documents. While these documents and associated photos and maps are generally prepared by private individuals and are NOT in the public domain, the information in them may be a useful source for citations. Virginia's general National Register page may be found here, with the nomination forms sorted by county or city available here

Photographs and drawings of numerous buildings have been made as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record; such works are generally considered to be works of the Federal Government and thus likely in the public domain, though some archival content used as part of the survey may not be (see the individual item in question for details).

Books

 * Manors of Virginia in colonial times (1909)
 * Twelve old houses west of Chesapeake Bay (1918)
 * Colonial churches in the original colony of Virginia (1908): Ver. 1Ver. 2
 * Brick architecture of the colonial period in Maryland & Virginia (1919)

Virginia history

 * Howe, Henry (1845) Historical Collections of Virginia (alt. copy)
 * Virginia: A History of the People by John Esten Cooke: 1891 edition, 1899 edition, 1903 edition
 * Young people's history of Virginia and Virginians by Dabney Herndon Maury: 1896 edition, 1904 edition(Note: while an elementary reading and probably not suited for sourcing articles, it provides a good overview of history (as viewed at the turn of the 20th century) and has numerous PD images that might be usable in articles.)
 * Life in Old Virginia (1907)

Colonial Era & Federal Era

 * Colonial Virginia: Its people and customs (1917)
 * The first university in America, 1619-1622 (1914)
 * The Thirteen Colonies, Vol. 1 by Helen Ainslie Smith
 * Virginia Under the Stuarts 1607-1688 (1914) by Thomas J. Wertenbaker
 * The English in America, Part IV:"The Colonies Under the House of Hanover" (1907) by John Andrew Doyle
 * The English in America, Part I (1882) by J. A. Doyle
 * The struggle for religious freedom in Virginia: the Baptists (1900)
 * Virginia Presbyterianism and religious liberty in colonial and revolutionary times (1907)

Federal and Antebellum era

 * An Account of General La Fayette's Visit to Virginia (1881)

Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper was a general illustrated news magazine out of New York City. There are numerous articles and wood engravings of Virginia sites, scenes, and battlefields during and after the American Civil War. Note that due to the news cycle for images at the time, the corresponding illustrations may be weeks or months after the event in question occurs or is written about.


 * Vols. 9-10 (Jan. - Nov. 1860)
 * Vols. 11-12 (Nov. 1860 - Nov. 1861)
 * Vols. 13-14 (Nov. 1861 - Sept. 1862)
 * Vols. 15-16 (Sept. 1862-Sept. 1863)
 * Vols. 17-18 (Jan. - Sept. 1864)
 * Vols. 19-20 (Sept. 1864-Sept. 1865)
 * Vols. 21-22 (Sept. 1865-Setp. 1866)

Selections of the various wood engravings were later collected and presented in the following volumes:
 * Incidents of the Civil War in America (1862)
 * The Soldier in Our Civil War (1893), Vol. I and Vol. II
 * Frank Leslie's Scenes and Portraits of the Civil War (1894)

Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly was a rival illustrated newspaper to Frank Leslie's, published in New York City and operating in much the same format.
 * Vol. 2 (1858)
 * Vol. 3 (1859)
 * Vol. 4 (1860)
 * Vol. 5 (1861)
 * Vol. 6 (1862)
 * Vol. 7 (1863)
 * Vol. 8 (1864)
 * Vol. 9 (1865)
 * Vol. 10 (1866)
 * Vol. 11 (1867)
 * Vol. 12 (1868)
 * Vol. 13 (1869)
 * Vol. 14 (1870)

Jamestown Exposition of 1907
The Jamestown Exposition is the only World's Fair ever to be held in Virginia. It was held on occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. As Jamestown was (at the time) a remote and undeveloped location, the exposition took place near Norfolk, at the site of the present-day Norfolk Naval Station (which was in part a result of the exposition). The following are various guidebooks and pamphlets produced in conjunction with it; some may not be suitable to serve generally as reliable sources, and are maintained here for their image value for completeness. As always, editor discretion and judgement is needed.
 * Laird & Lee's Guide to Historic Virginia and the Jamestown Centennial (1907)
 * The Tidewater Cities of Hampton Roads, Virginia, Your Hosts for 1907 (1907)
 * See! See! See! Guide to Jamestown exposition, Historic Virginia, and Washington (1907)
 * Illustrated Standard Guide to Norfolk and Portsmouth and Historical Events of Virginia 1607 to 1907 (1907)

Pavilion-specific and exhibit-specific works:
 * The Industrial History of the Negro Race of the United States (1911)
 * New York at the Jamestown Exposition, Norfolk, Virginia, April 26 to December 1, 1907
 * Report of the Maryland Commission to the Jamestown ter-centennial exposition, together with an account of Maryland's work and exhibits (1908)
 * The exhibits of the Smithsonian Institution and United States National Museum at the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition, Norfolk, Virginia.
 * The Massachusetts building, Hampton Roads, Virginia (1907)

Biography
Biographical dictionaries of Virginians (i.e. general reference works not devoted to any singular individual)

Works edited by Lyon Gardiner Tyler
Lyon Gardiner Tyler (then–President of the College of William and Mary) edited two series of biographies of contemporary and historical Virginians. While somewhat promotional (they read like a "who's who" list, should not be weighted heavily when trying to establish notability, esp. the later volumes), and as with many works of the period not inclusive of women or people of color, they are nevertheless a source of biographical information for some of the more obscure notable figures of the period, as well as photographs and signatures for a good many figures that don't yet have those posted on Wikipedia. Both sets are rather similar in format, but one is ten years later. The notability seems to roughly somewhat taper downward from the first volume (which has many a governor and ex-Confederate officer) to the fifth (which is mostly local businessmen).

Works edited by E. Griffith Dodson
Serving as Clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates (1934 to 1962) facilitated Dodson's compilations of Virginia history, and the legislative bios he prepared from questionnaires distributed to General Assembly members before 1961 are invaluable: The Capitol of the Commonwealth of Virginia at Richmond (1937), The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1885-1918 (1960), The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1919-1939 (1939), Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1776-1955 (1956) and The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia 1940-1960 (1961).

Successor volumes should be open source, since they were government-produced, but I have only seen the 1619-1978 Bicentennial edition on a Russian website with an abbreviated title, so I haven't dared open that link. Sounds silly, but going to a library and thumbing through them to find out who succeeded who might actually be somewhat efficient.

Men of Mark in Virginia (1906)
The 1906 series edited by is a who's who list for Virginia men of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. Volume include an index of the full-page portraits.
 * Vol. 1
 * Vol. 2
 * Vol. 3
 * Vol. 4
 * Vol. 5

Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915)

 * Vol. 1
 * Vol. 2 (only copy found was a poor-quality black&white OTSR scan)
 * Vol. 3
 * Vol. 4
 * Vol. 5 (Alt. Copy)

Other publishers

 * Eminent and representative men of Virginia and the District of Columbia in the nineteenth century. With a concise historical sketch of Virginia (1893)
 * Virginia Baptist ministers. 5th series, 1902-1914, with supplement (1915)
 * Official Virginia; a composition of sketches of the public men of Virginia at the present time (1920)
 * Poets of Virginia (ca. 1907)
 * Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia (1878) by Bishop Meade:Vol. I & Vol. II
 * Sketches of the pioneers of Methodism in North Carolina and Virginia (1884)
 * Virginia and Virginians: Eminent Virginians (1888) Copy 1, Copy 2
 * Virginia heraldica : being a registry of Virginia gentry entitled to coat armor, with genealogical notes of the families (1908)

Local history, geography, guidebooks
Note: Many of the books listed are locally-produced guidebooks, which while very useful for specific information on local history and geography, as well as plentiful images, suffer from "boosterism": peacock-words and puffery promoting the qualities of the individual location, its industry, its suitability for development, etc.. Also, as many include a plethor a of local businesses, local individuals, and institutions much like any city directory or phonebook, they should probably not be used to establish notability. The following sources should be used with this in mind.

These are listed by region (east to west), then alphabetically by jurisdiction, then chronologically

General

 * (A) Handbook of Virginia by the Virginia Department of Agriculture: 1886 ed., 1886 ed., 1906 ed., 1907 ed. (titled Virginia for the Homeseeker and Investor), 1909 ed., 1910 ed,, 1911 ed., 1915 ed. (copy 1), 1915 ed. (copy 2), 1919 ed.
 * Virginia business directory and gazetteer (1917) (Alt. copy)
 * Virginia (1889)

Hampton Roads

 * Historical and descriptive sketches of Norfolk and vicinity (1853), covering the whole of the Hampton Roads Tidewater

Norfolk and Portsmouth

 * History of Norfolk County, Virginia : and representative citizens, 1637-1900 (1902)
 * Norfolk as a Business Center (1880) Copy 1 and Copy 2
 * Guide to Norfolk as a Business Center(1884)
 * General and Commercial Guide to Norfolk and Portsmouth (1886)
 * Norfolk, the Maritime Metropolis of Virginia (1887): copy 1, copy 2, copy 3
 * Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, Facts and Figures about Norfolk, Va (1890)
 * Norfolk, Va.: Port and City (1896)
 * Within the capes of Virginia (1898)
 * Norfolk, Virginia ... commercial, industrial, historical, geographical, social (1910)
 * Norfolk, Virginia: Central Atlantic Port (1914)
 * Norfolk, Virginia: the 'Sunrise city by the sea'  (1914)

Hampton

 * A History of Old Point Comfort and Fortress Monroe, Va., from 1608 to January 1st, 1881 (1881)
 * Visitors' Hand Book of Old Point Comfort, Virginia, and Vicinity (1891)
 * Virginia Tourist (1892), very much a promotional tourist guide, but filled with photographs
 * History of Hampton and Elizabeth City County, Virginia (1922)

Tidewater (non-Hampton Roads)

 * Historic Dinwiddie County, Virginia : or, The last long camp (1907)
 * The History of Nansemond County, Virginia (1907) by Joseph Bragg Dunn
 * King and Queen County, Virginia (1908) by Rev. Alfred Bagby (Alt. version)
 * West Point, Virginia, and King William county (1888)
 * Westmoreland County, Virginia : parts I and II : a short chapter and bright day in its history 1653-1912 (1912)
 * Old King William homes and families; an account of some of the old homesteads and families of King William County, Virginia, from its earliest settlement (1897)

Richmond and Petersburg

 * Richmond, Virginia: Colonial, Revolutionary, Confederate and the Present (1896)

Northern Virginia

 * Industrial and historical sketch of Fairfax County, Virginia (1907)
 * History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia (1908) by James W. Head
 * A Brief History of Alexandria County, Virginia (1907)

Piedmont

 * Albemarle County in Virginia; giving some account of what it was by nature, of what it was made by man, and of some of the men who made it (1901])
 * A Handbook of Caroline County, Virginia (1907)
 * Genealogical and Historical notes on Culpeper County, Virginia (1900)
 * Fauquier County, Virginia: Historical Notes (1914)
 * A History of Orange County, Virginia (1907)

Southside

 * Sketch Book of Lynchburg, Va. Its People and its Trade (1887)
 * Charlotte County, Virginia : historical, statistical, and present attractions (1907) (Alt. copy)
 * Halifax County, Virginia: a handbook prepared under the direction of the Board of supervisors (1907) by Alfred J. Morrison (Alt copy)
 * A history of Prince Edward county, Virginia, from its formation in 1753 to the present (1922) by Charles Edward Burrell (Alt. copy 1; Alt. copy 2)

Ridge and Valley

 * Alleghany County, Virginia (1907)
 * History of Augusta County, Virginia (1882) by J. Lewis Peyton
 * Augusta County, Virginia : in the history of the United States (1918) (alt. copy)
 * Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 (1902)
 * Annals of Bath County, Virginia (1917/1918)
 * Historical sketch of Bedford County, Virginia. 1753-1907 (1907) (Alt. copy)
 * History of Clarke County, Virginia and its connection with the war between the states (1914) by Thomas Daniel Gold
 * Craig County, Virginia (1907)
 * A History of Highland County, Virginia (1911)
 * A History of Rockingham County, Virginia (1912) (Alt. copy)
 * History of Tazewell County and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920 (1920)
 * History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 (1903) by Lewis Preston Sumners (Alt. copy 1; Alt. copy 2)
 * A Description of Weyer's Cave in Augusta County, Virginia (1852)
 * Pulaski County, Virginia. A historic and descriptive sketch designed to show forth the natural advantages (1907)
 * A History of the Valley of Virginia (1902) by Samuel Kerchevel
 * Report of a visit to the Luray Cavern, in Page County, Virginia, under the auspices of the Smithsonian institution, July 13 and 14, 1880 (1881)
 * A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia (1920) by Oren F. Morton
 * Some points of interest in and near historic Winchester, Virginia (1908)

Railroad tourist guidebooks

 * Rand, McNally's indexed railroad and county map of Virginia (1883)
 * The Scenic Attractions and Summer Resorts Along the Railways of the Virginia, Tennessee & Georgia Air Line: the Shenandoah Velley RR., the Norfolk & Western RR., and the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia RR (1883), by the titular railroads
 * ''Summer Resorts and Points of Interest of Virginia, Western North Carolina, and North Georgia (1884), by the Virginia Midland railroad (successor to the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, among others)
 * Virginia in Black and White (1893), by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad

Other

 * Correspondence of the governor of Virginia with the governor of Maryland and the authorities of Accomac County, Va.; also, the opinion of the attorney-general of Virginia in relation to recent difficulties in the waters of the Pocomoke (1874) (note:a primary source, but may be useful for any quotes on the Oyster wars
 * County School Fairs in Virginia (1912) (Alt. edition)