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…
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…
Group of men, including James Farmer, during his second attempt to march to Montgomery, Alabama from Selma, Alabama. From left to right: Fred Shuttlesworth, Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, and James Forman. In the foreground: Andrew Young.
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…
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.”
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…
Studio portrait of costumed figures before a sign saying "We Fight For Democracy." This photograph was taken during World War I. Ralph Harvie Wormley as Uncle Sam; Adeline Harmon Cowles as Columbia, Martha Jobson, as Democracy holding a ballot…
Equal Suffrage League of Virginia float depicting the Barge of State with Victory at the prow. This photograph was taken at the Thrift Day Parade held the afternoon of Saturday, March 23, 1918 in Richmond, VA. According to newspaper reports, over…
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.…
Sue Cottingham, editor of the campus newspaper, The Bullet, is shown center left. She wears a "Strike" badge, protesting the Vietnam War expansion into Cambodia.
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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.…
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,…
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…
Two children wearing paint smocks to protect their clothing, paint pictures at easels. Before the Newbury Center opened in 1957, there was no education available in a school setting in Richmond or the surrounding counties for children younger than…
Four children are shown playing in a pretend grocery store. One boy uses a play phone and writes a message; a girl retrieves items from the shelves; another girl pretends to check out while a boy uses a toy cash register to ring up the sale. The…
Three young boys stand around a sawhorse using hammer and saw at the Josephine Newbury Demonstration Kindergarten, Richmond, VA.Before the Newbury Center opened in 1957, there was no education available in a school setting in Richmond or the…
A woman in traditional Indian clothing teaches children about her home in India. She points to a globe as children gather around her and look on. Before the Newbury Center opened in 1957, there was no education available in a school setting in…
Josephine Newbury teaching children about corn and other plants at the Josephine Newbury Demonstration Kindergarten, Richmond, Va. Before the Newbury Center opened in 1957, there was no education available in a school setting in Richmond or the…