We help Virginians share and preserve the stories that shape their communities, connecting history, culture, and civic life in ways that matter today. Through grants and fellowships, public lectures, teacher resources, radio conversations, and folklife preservation, our work strengthens understanding, honors difference, and builds connections across the Commonwealth.
By the Numbers
July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026
Authors featured at our 2026 Virginia Festival of the Book
Conversations aired on our With Good Reason radio show
Online visitors to Encyclopedia Virginia
IMPACT STORY
Lewis Longenecker’s Students Don’t Just Study History. They Make It.
pose for a photo at the Virginia Randolph School museum
during a professional development workshop. Photo by Pat
Jarrett/Virginia Humanities
When Lewis Longenecker’s students at Cumberland Middle School began researching Lucyville, they weren’t looking for a story anyone had told them to find.
They were digging through census records, old maps, and archival documents — the raw stuff of history — and what they unearthed was a Black community founded around 1879 by Reverend Reuben T. Coleman, a man born into slavery who went on to build a hotel, a bank, a newspaper, and a post office…
Remembering Bill Martin
Bill Martin was not just a student of history — he believed history
could help shape opinions and policies to improve our society.
Without lecturing, he used history to help people reach their own
conclusions…
Artisan Clyde Jenkins presents white oak basket weaving during our 2025 Cider Festival at Staunton’s Frontier Museum of History & Culture.
Photo by Pat Jarrett/Virginia Humanities
DONOR PROFILE
Q&A with Cassandra Newby-Alexander
You previously worked as an oral historian for the Supreme Court of Virginia. What was the most surprising part of that experience?
Uncovering the hidden perspectives of the judges, justices, and attorneys whose careers made a difference in the Commonwealth. Most of the prior interviews and accounts of these individuals focused on their role in judicial decisions that were made rather than on who they were as people and the individuals who most influenced their lives. My interviews provided lens into that world, helping me to really understand them as individuals.
Grants Map
2026 Grants
1750 Isle of Wight County Courthouse
Living History Activities
$6,000
ADEii Health Foundation
Remembering All of the Titans: TC Williams Oral History Project
$3,500
Alexandria Historical Society
Alexandria Digital History Museum
$3,500
Appalachia Cultural Arts Council Inc.
The Appalachia Cultural Arts Center “Magic City” History Project
$5,500
Arlington Historical Society
250th Anniversary Traveling Trunk
$3,500
Arlington Historical Society
HistoryFest 250
$10,000
Birthplace of Country Music, Inc.
Songs of the Revolution(s)
$7,950
Black Heritage Museum of Arlington Virginia
Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington, 1669-1865
$12,000
Black in Appalachia
The Souls of Bristol’s Black Bottom
$5,500
Botetourt Preservation Partnership, Inc.
Spirits Trail of 1776
$6,000
Bristol Historical Association, Inc.
Robert Preston House Exhibits
$5,500
Charlottesville Jazz Society
General Operational Support
$500
Chrysler Museum of Art
Public Programming Honoring the Legacy of Irene Leache and Annie Wood
$6,000
City of Norton
The Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument: Honoring Forest-Based Traditions in Southwest Virginia
$15,000
Clarke County Historical Association
Stories of the 250th: Clarke County’s Connection to Virginia and America’s Journey
$13,450
Colonial National Historical Park
Adventure 250 Family Ranger Program
$9,000
Culpeper Minute Men
Culpeper Minute Men 250th Anniversary – History Week Festivals & Historical Interpreters
$6,500
Cultivate Charlottesville
Grown Roots: Oral Histories of Black Food and Farming in Charlottesville
$15,000
Dahlgren Heritage Foundation
Stories of Pioneers at Dahlgren and Their Contributions to the Community
$3,500
Dinwiddie County
Dinwiddie County’s Roads to Revolution
$10,000
Djimon Hounsou Foundation
RUN RICHMOND 16.19
$10,000
Eastern Shore Virginia Historical Society
General Operational Support
$3,500
Floyd Center for the Arts
3rd Annual Floyd Living Traditions Festival
$3,500
Floyd Creative Studios
The Harmonic Heritage Songbook & Recording Project
$15,000
Foundation for Historic Christ Church
2026 Northern Neck 250 Speaker Series
$5,000
Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center
Witness to a Revolution: Fredericksburg Remembers 1776
$10,000
Germanna Community College
Legacies of the American Revolution: Dialogue and Discovery Civic Engagement
$10,000
Germanna Foundation
Salubria Oktoberfest & 250th History Faire
$10,000
Glass Glen Burnie Museum, Inc.
Revolutionary Valley Exhibition
$10,000
Gloucester County Friends of the Museum
1781: The Revolution in Gloucester – The Battle of the Hook and Second Surrender
$3,500
Grayson County Tourism
Foundations of Freedom: Stories, Songs & Sustenance of the Revolution
$6,100
Great Bridge Battlefield and Waterways History Foundation
Competing Freedoms
$5,381.80
Hampden-Sydney College
Virginia Civil Rights History Digital Library
$15,000
Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc. DBA WHRO
Regional Humanities Center Public Humanities Programs and Projects
$20,000
Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc. DBA WHRO
Hampton Roads at 250: Celebrating Local Stories through Public Education Media
$10,000
Headwaters Down
Land Back: The Rappahannock
$15,000
Hero Kids
Giving Voice to Those Who Serve at Home
$1,100
Indie short Film Festival
Indie Short Film Festival
$10,000
James Madison University
Celebrating Simms at Rocktown High School
$7,463
James Solomon Russell Saint Paul’s College Museum and Archives, Inc.
James Solomon Russell Middle School History Project
$3,500
Literacy InterActives, Inc.
Preserving Our Voices: Oral Histories at the Parker Sydnor Historic Site in Mecklenburg County
$3,500
Loudoun Museum
Life, Liberty, & Loudoun! Revolutionary Stories
$15,000
Madison County African American Historical Association
Silent Ground: Preserving the Burial Sites of Enslaved People
$3,500
Mathews County VA 250
Crickets The Musical
$3,500
Melungeon Heritage Association
Melungeon Voices Podcast Season 6: The American Revolution’s 250th Anniversary
$10,000
Military Aviation Museum
Military Aviation Museum Observation Deck Enhanced Visitor Experience
$6,000
Mountain Movement Magazine
Launching Mountain Movement Magazine
$4,000
Mozaic
Tastes of Home: A Refugee Recipe Collection
$3,500
Nelson County Community Development Foundation
Expanding Education and Community Engagement at Woodson’s Mill
$10,000
ODU Research Foundation
Homing Voices: An Inclusive Community Storytelling Project
$15,000
Office of Historic Alexandria
Sails on the Potomac
$10,000
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University
Revolutionary Ideas: 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution
$10,000
PATH Foundation (Press Forward Virginia)
General Operational Support
$5,000
Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation
“Oh, Henry!” A Revolutionary Performance about Patrick Henry’s Life and Legacy
$10,000
Pocahontas Reframed Storytellers Film Festival
Operational Support
$20,000
Preservation Virginia
Bacon’s Rebellion at 350 Years: Perspectives on the Causes and Impacts of Nathaniel Bacon’s Uprising
$13,000
Preservation Virginia
New Exhibition: Minuteman to the Virginia State Bar, John Marshall and the Revolutionary War
$5,000
Rappahannock Tribe of Virginia
Operational Support
$500
ReEstablish Richmond
Multicultural Festival: Imagine 2026
$3,500
Roanoke Foodshed Network
Rhythms of the Region: Building Connection Across our Food System through Music
$14,998
Rouge VA
ROŪGE and The Great Filipino American Aswang Pageant
$6,000
Round the Mountain Artisan Network
Crafting Community: Artisan Storytelling & Heritage Training in Southwest Virginia
$15,000
Salem Historical Society, Inc. (DBA Salem Museum)
Tutelo of Toterra Town Exhibit
$3,000
Saltville Foundation
From “Rockets’ Red Glare” to “Rockets Up There”: Saltville and The American Story
$5,471.80
Samuel D. Outlaw Blacksmith Shop Memorial Museum
Samuel D. Blacksmith Shop 2nd Annual Shoebox Lunch Festival
$3,500
Settlers Museum and 1890s Farm
Traditional Textiles and Traditional Foods
$5,198
Seven Hills Chamber Music
Music History in the Hill City
$3,390
Slover Library Foundation
General Operational Support
$10,000
Smyth County Historical & Museum Society Inc.
History in Hands: Expanding Access to Smyth County Historical Society’s Archives
$4,557.41
Soul of Cville
Sixth Annual Soul of Cville Festival
$3,500
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Operational Support
$5,000
Stratford Hall
The NNK250 We the People Academic Symposium and Virginia Resolved: A Commemoration of Independence
$9,900
Supernova Alliance
Amplifying Talent: Students Take the Stage at Supernova
$4,900
Taubman Museum of Art
CELEBRATING FREEDOM! Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness as seen by American Artists
$10,000
The Army Historical Foundation
Exhibit catalog support for CALL TO ARMS: The Soldier and the Revolutionary War
$10,000
The Friends of the Buchanan County Public Library, Inc.
Buchanan County Public Library’s Speakers Series
$3,746
The June Bug Center for Arts & Education
Floyd JAMs After School Support 2025 –2026
$3,500
The Mariners’ Museum and Park
The Mariners’ Museum and Park Animated Learning Series for Student Engagement
$3,500
The Montpelier Foundation
Virginia’s Founding Footprint: People, Places, and the Promise of 1776
$8,000
The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
General Operational Support
$2,500
The Valentine
Dissent! Liberty & Loyalty in Early Richmond
$10,000
The Virginia Quilt Museum
Stitching Together History: Year 3
$10,000
Tidewater African Cultural Alliance
ACE (African Cultural Education) with TACA
$6,000
Tidewater Classical Guitar
Deep Roots: Justin Holland’s Journey from Chesapeake to the World
$6,000
Town of Abingdon, VA
Liberty Fest – Abingdon’s History is America’s History
$10,000
Town of Culpeper
Culpeper Minutemen History Week
$3,500
Town of Fries, Virginia
From Mill Town to Music Town: The Story of Fries and Its Fiddlers’ Convention
$12,000
Town of Pound
Annual Red Fox Storytelling Festival: Stories of Labor
$4,900
Town of Wytheville Department of Museums
War & Style: Life in the Virginia Back Country During America’s Revolution
$10,000
Union High School
Planting Stories: Exploring the Cultural and Medicinal Heritage of SWVA’s Plants
$5,402
United Jewish Federation of Tidewater
Stars Among Us: Illuminating Untold Tales of the Holocaust
$6,000
University of Virginia’s College at Wise
Regional Humanities Center Public Humanities Programs and Projects
$20,000
Virginia Book Arts
General Operational Support
$10,600
Virginia Book Arts
Riccio Residency
$3,000
Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art
General Operational Support
$2,500
Virginia Museum of History & Culture
VMHC Living History Weekend – Virginia at War 1781
$10,000
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
VSO Lecture for New Work
$6,000
Virginia War Memorial Foundation Inc.
Operation Desert Storm Documentary
$10,000
We Independent
Her Colors: Voices Beyond Borders
$1,500
William & Mary Foundation
Revolution Untold: Stories of Virginia in the Revolution
$10,000
Wise County Historical Society
Preservation, Planning and Progress
$5,475
Woodville Rosenwald School Foundation
Preserving and Displaying Historical Artifacts of Woodville School
$6,000
York County Economic & Tourism Development
Sail Yorktown Festival
$10,000
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