Virginia Historical Society Offering Free Workshop on New Slave Name Database

FROM THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA: 

Virginia Historical Society Offering Free Workshop on New Slave Name Database

February 21 Program in Alexandria Explores “Unknown No Longer” Database

During Black History Month, attend a free workshop in Alexandria to learn how to use Unknown No Longer: A Virginia Slave Name Database. This free database is the latest step by the Virginia Historical Society to increase access to its varied collections relating to Virginians of African descent. The workshop will be held on Tuesday, February 21, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at The Lyceum, Alexandria’s History Museum, 201 South Washington Street.

At this workshop, Dr. Lauranett Lee, Curator of African American History, and Paige Newman, Assistant Archivist, will highlight some of their research findings and provide tips on how to navigate the Unknown No Longer database.  This workshop is currently the only one offered in Northern Virginia. Reservations are required, and space is limited. Register online atwww.vahistorical.org/news/unlworkshop_registration.htm.

Thanks to a generous grant from Dominion Resources and the Dominion Foundation in 2011, the Virginia Historical Society launched an online resource called Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names. This is the first database that examines various documents and plantation records across all of slaveholding Virginia with a focus on Virginians of African descent.

Since its founding in 1831, the VHS has collected unpublished manuscripts, a collection that now numbers more than 8 million processed items. Unknown No Longer is an example of both the VHS’s and Dominion’s commitment to using technology to increase access to historical collections and their dedication to reaching out to a diverse constituency.

This event is co-sponsored by the Office of Historic Alexandria.