Wearing white robes and hoods, members of the Ku Klux Klan, a right-wing extremist organization, parade on Grace Street in Richmond circa 1925. This photograph was taken at the intersection of Grace and Fifth streets, just a few blocks from the…
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Woman’s Exchange January 8, 1932
The Richmond Exchange for Woman’s Work is the first woman’s shop established in Richmond which has been in continuous operation for almost fifty years. It was established in 1883 to assist ladies who,…
After the influenza virus was finally identified in 1933, researchers immediately started to develop a vaccine. The first flu vaccine was approved for U.S. military use in 1945 and for civilian use in 1946. Unfortunately, the flu has several types,…
In 1894, Mary Tinsley Greenhow, who as a teenager was paralyzed during a horse riding accident, founded the Virginia Home for Incurables. Disabled Richmonders needing life-long care lived at the home near Capitol Square. In 1898, the home moved to W.…
In the early-20th century, Europe and the U.S. saw the rise of “open air” schools intended to create healthy environments to combat tuberculosis using the principles of sanatoria. Sometimes purpose-built, and sometimes converted spaces, open air…
French bacteriologists Albert Calmette (1863–1933) and Camille Guérin (1872–1961) finalized the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for tuberculosis in 1921. The vaccine remains the only tuberculosis vaccine in use today. While not perfect, it is…
Boys standing outside the Richmond Male Orphan Society at Amelia and Meadow Streets, Richmond, Va. The Richmond Male Orphan Society began in 1846 when the director of the Female Humane Association was approached by a homeless boy begging for coins.…
Lucy and J. R. F. Burroughs founded the Bethany Home for Friendless Children in 1894. The childless couple established the orphanage on their 165-acre farm, located near Bon Air in Chesterfield County. Incorporated in 1898, Bethany Home had no…
Publication of The Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties,a grassroots political organization dedicated to preserving strict racial segregation in Virginia's public schools. The group was establishedin Petersburg in October 1954…
City Home, an almshouse located at 210 Hospital Street, Richmond, VA. Shown here circa 1960.Richmond’s Committee for the Relief of the Poor managed white and black almshouses, a soup kitchen, a hospital and other health and social services.…
Pinback button The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) first met in New York City in 1858. While based in Christianity, the YWCA was more focused on social issues, initially affordable housing for working women. It later was active in the…
Richmond’s Committee for the Relief of the Poor managed white and black almshouses, a soup kitchen, a hospital and other health and social services. Construction of a new white almshouse on Hospital Street finished in 1860. During the Civil War, the…
This parade float from Richmond’s Adventure Days (1929) served as a public health reminder of cholera, noting “Richmonders Died at the Average Age of 24 in 1872.”
Lucy Goode Brooks (1818–1900) and members of the Ladies Sewing Circle for Charitable Work established the Friends Asylum for Colored Orphans in 1871. These formerly enslaved women enlisted the support of the Cedar Creek Meeting Society of Friends…
Anti-suffrage postcard. The front has gold lettering, with a different color for each capital letter, green, purple, red, blue, orange. Silhouettes of three mice appear at the top of the card. Text:"As soon as I find a / Woman / Suffragist, / Who is…
"I've Had My Chest X-Ray" button with red double-bar cross that was the emblem of the National Tuberculosis Association anti-TB crusade.
People can be exposed to tuberculosis bacteria and become infected. Some who are infected go on to develop…
In 1981, Dr. Michael Gottlieb of UCLA identified a new disease that, among its many signs, severely weakened the immune system. Named acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), this disease was initially seen among gay men in large cities. Human…
Nurse Lucille Meador walks through the snow wearing snowshoes at the Beth Sholom Home of Virginia, 5729 Fitzhugh Avenue, Henrico County, Virginia The Beth Sholom Home of Virginia opened in 1945 as Virginia’s first Jewish nursing home. Originally…
Report by Mrs. W. T. Richardson, recording secretary for the Exchange for Woman's Work. This excerpt (pp. 9 - 14) is taken from the Fourth Annual Report of the Exchange, 1887.Text (excerpt)Annual Report. The Richmond Exchange for Woman’s Work has now…
Lantern slide. Image taken in Richmond, Va in 1907. The Richmond Health Department formed in 1906. One of its early initiatives (1907) was to investigate 433 cases of typhoid fever, creating the city’s first systematic study of infectious disease. In…
Black and white photograph of people preparing for an anti-busing demonstration. A woman stands holding an American flag, and a man standing with her wears a hand-lettered anti-busing sign, "Forced bussing & consolidation of schools will lead to…
Black and white photograph of a Richmond-based anti-busing motorcade passing through Washington, D.C. on 2nd Street behind the U.S. Supreme Court building. A policeman walks beside two cars.On February 17, 1972, nearly 3,300 cars traveled in a…
Black and white photograph of a man and a woman in a car during an anti-busing motorcade to Washington, D.C. The car is driving past the U.S. Supreme Court building and has a poster taped to the driver's side door of the car. The poster is of "The…
The Memorial Foundation for Children’s story began in 1805, when a homeless girl supposedly presented herself at the door of Jean Moncure Wood, wife of Governor James E. Wood. Realizing that the city lacked a shelter for needy girls, Mrs. Wood worked…
Pinback button In 1924, the Richmond Area Community Council created the Community Fund, later known as the Richmond Area Community Chest. This trust centralized fundraising and fund distribution to the Council’s more than thirty member organizations.