The Story of Virginia at the Virginia Historical Society

On my way to see the Virginia Museum of Fine Art's Mocha Dick exhibit this past weekend I walked past the Virginia Historical Society, which is located right next door to the VMFA, and said “Oh, why not?”

Due to its position right next to the more inviting building of the VMFA, I was honestly pleasantly surprised at the amount of visitors the VHS had. I thought that if, after all my many trip to Richmond, it had taken me more than a year to visit the VHS, the museum would be devoid of people. Not only were there a lot of visitors, but they also spanned a wide range of ages and all seemed interested and happy to be there.

After a lackluster reception (read: the person sitting at the front desk did not even acknowledge my existence...) I decided to tour the Story of Virginia, an American Experience exhibit, which spanned history from the earliest human settlers in the region up to the present day – about 16,000 years of history! The exhibition was broken into four different chronological sections: Early Virginia to 1775, 1775 to 1860, 1861 to 1900, and 1900 to present day.

The exhibition found ways to include visitor of all ages with interesting wall texts, individual peoples' accounts of events, and really neat artifacts – from an original log cabin and animal fur pelts one was able to stroke in the Early Virginia to 1775 section, to a Conestoga Wagon, dress-up clothes, and period furniture pieces in the 1775 to 1869 section, to Civil War relics, daguerreotypes, a real late 19^th century streetcar, and a copper liquor still in the 1861 to 1900 section, to a lunch counter (to represent the lunch counter sit-ins in the 1960's), a Klu Klux Klan outfit, and a wall full of Time Magazine covers with famous Virginians on the cover. There were also countless videos and interactive screens and peppered throughout the exhibition one could find plaques which asked questions (such as “True or False: George Washington had wooden teeth?”) which one could then flip the over to find the answer to the question (“False: they were made from gold, ivory, lead, and human and animal teeth.”).

I noticed that the exhibition did not really make a big deal about the few pieces of artwork in its possession. I figured that this was because the museum was about history and not at all about art. This was made clear when I spotted a painting of Pocahontas in the first section of the exhibition. “Now, this painting looks very familiar,” I thought. And then it dawned on me: it is a copy of the very painting that, upon visiting the National Portrait Gallery, we were shown and told that it was the first acquisition of the NPG! More than that, there was another modern day copy of the same painting in which Pocahontas was rendered in (perhaps) a more accurate likeness – darker hair, tanner skin, etc.

It follows then, that while art museums desire authentic and original artwork, historical museums or societies are just as happy with a likeness of a piece; such as the Pocahontas painting, or the mock lunch counter from a sit-in (the Greensboro Lunch Counter is on display at the National Natural History Museum). This, I feel, is just; one does not go to the National Gallery of Art expecting to see Dorothy's ruby red slippers, no, one goes to the National Natural History Museum; where, likewise, one does not expect to see a beautiful original van Gogh.

The Virginia Historical Society should definitely expect another visit from me.  It fed my love of history and conveyed its complex story through personal stories of Virginians throughout time and amazing, intriguing artifacts.