Library of Virginia

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The Library of Virginia, located at 800 East Broad Street in Richmond, Virginia

The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, its archival agency, and the reference library at the seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and is located 2 blocks from the Virginia State Capitol building.

Formally founded by the Virginia General Assembly in 1823, the Library of Virginia organizes, cares for, and manages the state's collection of books and official records, many of which date back to the early colonial period. It houses what is believed to be the most comprehensive collection of materials on Virginia government, history, and culture available anywhere. Its research collections contain more than 808,500 bound volumes; 678,790 public documents; 410,330 microforms, including 45,684 reels of microfilmed newspapers; 308,900 photographs and other pictorial materials; 101.8 million manuscript items and records; and several hundred thousand prints, broadsides, and newspapers.

Among the Library's many distinguished publications, exhibitions, and educational programs is the Dictionary of Virginia Biography, a multivolume reference work documenting the contributions of Virginians to four centuries of local, state, and national history.

Since 1998, the Library of Virginia and the Library of Virginia Foundation have sponsored the annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards honoring outstanding Virginia authors and books about Virginia in the areas of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They also present annually a lifetime achievement award, whose past recipients are Ellen Glasgow (1998), Edgar Allan Poe (1999), Anne Spencer (2000), Booker T. Washington (2001), Mary Lee Settle (2002), Louis D. Rubin Jr. (2003), George Garrett (2004), Merrill D. Peterson (2005), William Styron (2006), and Tom Wolfe (2007).

[edit] State Librarians of Virginia

During the nineteenth century, Secretaries of the Commonwealth usually oversaw the state library as part of their official duties.

John Pendleton Kennedy, 1903–1907
Henry Read McIlwaine, 1907–1934
Wilmer L. Hall, 1934–1946
Randolph Warner Church, 1947–1972
Donald Rucker Haynes, 1972–1986
Ella Gaines Yates, 1986–1990
John C. Tyson, 1990–1994
Nolan T. Yelitch, 1995–2007
Sandra Gioia Treadway, 2007–present

[edit] References

Sandra Gioia Treadway and Edward D. C. Campbell Jr., eds. The Common Wealth: Treasures from the Collection of the Library of Virginia. Richmond: The Library of Virginia, 1997. ISBN 0884901858.