Virtual Virginiana
Can't make it to the Virginiana Room in person? Check out these online local historical resources, from full-text resources to Library of Virginia resources.
Fredericksburg Research Resources from the University of Mary Washington
Digitized primary documents from Virginia and Fredericksburg history, provided by the UMW Department of Historic Preservation and other sources.
Contents include:
- Fredericksburg city directories
- Lists of local inhabitants, taken from census data
- Merchant license lists
- Tax records
- Indexes to legal transferals of property (e.g. deeds, trusts, wills)
- Indexes to Fredericksburg newspapers
- Indexes to insurance policies
Local Yearbooks
Central Rappahannock Regional Library holds a number of yearbooks in print form, and some have been digitized by the Library of Virginia.
As part of the Library of Virginia's digitization project, a portion of our local yearbook collection has been put online:
Fredericksburg
- Fredericksburg College (1902)
- Fredericksburg High School (1921, 1922, 1924, 1925)
- James Monroe High School (1947-1950, 1952-1953, 1958, 1961, 1965, 1967- 1969, 1971, 1973-1975)
- Maury Elementary School (1972, 1977)
- Walker-Grant Middle School (1970-1973)
Stafford County
- Falmouth High School (1943, 1948)
- Stafford Senior High School (1975)
Westmoreland County
- Cople High School (1949-1954, 1956-1959)
Full Text Resources
These Virginia history classics are out of copyright and have been made freely available by various organizations, including GenGateway, Internet Archive, Harvard, and the University of Virginia.
Resources appropriate for genealogy research are marked with an asterisk (*).
A-G
1885 Business Directory from The Free Lance newspaper (Fredericksburg)
Barons of the Potomack and the Rappahannock by Moncure Daniel Conway (1892)
The Colonial Virginia Register: A List of Governors, Councillors and Other Higher Officials, and also Members of the House of
Burgesses, and the Revolutionary Conventions of the Colony of Virginia compiled by William Glover and Mary Newton Standard (1902)
The Conquest of Illinois by George Rogers Clark
Documentary History of the Struggle for Religious Liberty in Virginia (1899)
Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century by Philip Bruce Alexander
Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915)
Fifty Years in Chains, or, The Life of an American Slave by Charles Ball (1859)
Fredericksburg and Its Many Points of Interest by R.A. Kishpaugh (1912)
Fredericksburg: Past, Present and Future by Robert Reid Howison (1898)
A Gazetteer of Virginia by Henry Gannett (1904)*
Genealogies of the Lewis and Kindred Families edited by John Meriwether McAllister, Mrs. Lura May Boulton Tandy
H-L
Hening's Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia from the first session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619 by William Waller Hening
Historic Periods of Fredericksburg, 1608-1861 by Mrs. Vivian Minor Fleming (1921)
An Historical Account Of The Settlements Of Scotch Highlanders In America Prior To The Peace Of 1783 Together With Notices Of Highland Regiments And Biographical Sketches by J. A. P. MacLean, Ph. D.
Historical Collections of Virginia... by Henry Howe (1845)
A History of Education in Virginia by Cornelius J. Heatwole (1916)
The History of Fredericksburg, Virginia by Silvanus J. Quinn (1908)
A History of Slavery in Virginia by James Curtis Ballagh (1902)
The History of Suffrage in Virginia by Julian A. C. Chandler (1901)
History of the Early Settlement and Indian Wars of Western Virginia; Embracing an Account of the Various Expeditions in the West, Previous to 1795... by Wills de Hass (1851)
History of the German Element in Virginia by Herrmann Schuricht (1898-1900)
A History of the Valley of Virginia by Samuel Kercheval (1833)
History of the Virginia Company of London by Edward D. Neill (1869)
The History of Virginia, in Four Parts by Robert Beverly (1722)
Journal of a Young Lady of Virginia. 1782. by Lucinda (Lee) Orr
M-Z
Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia: in Two Volumes (Volume 1) by Bishop William Meade
Volume 2 is here.*
Overwharton Parish Registry, 1720 to 1760 (Old Stafford)*
The Political History of Virginia During the Reconstruction by Hamilton James Eckenrode (1904)
Reception of General La Fayette in Fredericksburg, November 27, 1824
The Revolution in Virginia by Hamilton James Eckenrode (1916)
Roster of Confederate Dead in the Fredericksburg Confederate Cemetery by Robert K. Krick, 1974*
Slave Life in Virginia and Kentucky; or, Fifty Years of Slavery in the Southern States of America by Francis Fedric. 1863
Statistical Gazetteer of the State of Virginia by Richard Edwards (1855)*
Travels and Works of Captain John Smith, President of Virginia and Admiral of New England, 1580-1631 edited by Edward Arber
Virginia and Virginians by Dr. R.A. Brock and Professor Virgil A. Lewis (1888)
The Virginia Campaign and the Blockade and Siege of Yorktown, 1781 by Colonel H.L. Landers, F.A. Historical Section, Army War College
Virginia Colonial Decisions: The Reports by Sir John Randolph and by Edward Barradall of Decisions of the General Court of Virginia, 1728-1741 ed., with historical introduction, by R. T. Barton.
Virginia Cookery-Book compiled by Mary Stuart Smith (1885)
Virginia under the Stuarts, 1607-1688 by Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker (1914)
Word-Book of Virginia Folk Speech by B.W. Green (1899)
Online Journals
Central Rappahannock Regional Library cardholders may also use online databases to access many full-text historical and genealogical articles from scholarly publications.
Online Resources
The Free Lance-Star: Color Version
The Free Lance-Star: Text Only Version
JSTOR
Library of Virginia Resources
In addition, the Library of Virginia's digital collections have photos, maps, Confederate disability applications/receipts and pension rolls, public service claims from Lord Dunmore's War, early Virginia religious petitions, Revolutionary War bounty warrants and rejected claims, Virginia Land Office patents and grants, and the WPA Life Histories Collection, including more than 50 interviews with former slaves.
Courthouse Cases
Westmoreland County Chancery Cases, 1753-1913, opens a new window
Chancery Causes are cases of equity. According to Black's Law Dictionary they are "administered according to fairness as contrasted with the strictly formulated rules of common law." A judge, not a jury, determines the outcome of the case. The above link gives background information. Search cases here., opens a new window
