November 7, 2024 Lisa Shutt and her students will talk about introducing students to a variety of Black history topics through the lens of River View Farm, the farm established in 1870 by Hugh Carr with a $100 payment only five years after his emancipation. In Shutt’s advanced seminar, students learn to locate and draw on primary sources in the UVA Special Collections library and the Charlottesville/Albemarle Historical Society and

October 3, 2024 The new Virginia Emigrants to Liberia website, launched last fall with a relational database derived from manuscript ship lists, contains data on more than 3900 emigrants, white colonization supporters, full citations, and links to hundreds of illuminating letters and other documents. Content developers Deborah Lee and Jane Ailes will give a tour of the website, demonstrate ways to use it, and relate engaging stories of Virginia emigrants

September 5, 2024 Lucille Smith will provide an overview of her new book about the three segregated Black High Schools in the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County from 1926-1951. From the late 1800’s to 1951, there were more than 45 one and two-room feeder schools created in Albemarle County.  The schools fed into two of the three area segregated Black high schools.  In 1926, Jefferson High School opened its

June 6, 2024 Virginia Untold Project Manager Lydia Neuroth will share updates from the “Free Negro Register” project, as well as new records recently made available through Virginia Untold and current digitization efforts. Virginia Untold is a digital project that provides access to records of enslaved and free Black and Multiracial people in the Library of Virginia’s collection. Thursday, June 6 , at 4 o’clock IN PERSON at Jefferson School

Thursday, May 2, at 4 o’clock IN PERSON at Jefferson School African American Heritage Center Using GIS maps, both old and new, Dede will illustrate the historical significance of rural Black churches and cemeteries in Albemarle County; sites that represent the resilience and endurance of African American communities through periods of emancipation, segregation, and civil rights struggles. She aims to underscore the significance of preserving rural Black churches and their

Thursday, April 4 , at 4 o’clock IN PERSON at Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Andi will discuss her research – and that done by the esteemed Brian Sheffey – and present not only the predominant family names with ties to Birdwood and the Garth family but also include information about the plans for the property as well as for how descendants of the enslaved community will be engaged

March 7, 2024 On Zoom: While the field office records of the Freedmen’s Bureau are the most commonly reviewed and include registers of freedmen, labor contracts, and correspondence, the records of the Assistant Commissioners are less frequently examined yet are equally rich in historical detail. This presentation will highlight the “Assistant Commissioners ” who were responsible for the administration of Bureau activities in each state, and their records contain a

February 1, 2024 Students working on the Memory Project will present their findings about James Fife’s Oak Lawn on February 1 at 4:00 on zoom for CVHR. For over a century, the stories of the enslaved people who lived and labored on the Fife estate, Oak Lawn, have been obscured, despite the fact that they constitute the majority of people to ever reside on the plantation. The purpose of our

January 4, 2024 Virtual – Sam Towler will discuss researching local records that are held locally. Jon Zug, Clerk of the Albemarle Court, will explain the archiving project the County is working on and how this will affect researching the records currently held at the courthouse. Jean Cooper will talk about the Census records and how to get the most out of researching them.

December 7, 2023 In December, we will gather to share what we have been working on in an informal exchange and to enjoy tasty treats.