Saturday morning I attended a workshop at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture which gave us a chance to see, through letters and documents, the way men and women have related in Virginia over the years. We saw a letter from the the 18th century seeking permission for marriage. Another letter from a free Black man written before the Civil War, trying to ascertain the price of an enslaved woman he wanted to marry. There were letters from a young woman written during World War II corresponding with a variety of soldiers to keep their spirits up and there were journals from the 1970’s in which a gay man recorded his struggles. The curator of the collection told us of an opportunity for volunteers to transcribe original documents. The VMHC is a private organization dependent on donations so this is one way people can help.
