We'll set aside the colonial period and recall some exciting times such as when Jimmy Doolittle flew over Williamsburg, a band of yeggs blew up the bank vault, Winston Churchill made the mayor wait while he was playing cards. And we'll remember the Eastern State Hospital patient who lived in her own house (it's still standing)and the Richmond widow who put a Confederate plaque in Bruton Parish Church.    

 

For forty years, from 1925 until 1965, one man controlled politics in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  During this time, after serving as governor himself for one term, he handpicked every governor but one, and maintained control of the legislature, while serving in the US Senate for more than thirty years.  This man was Harry Flood Byrd.  What kind of person was he, and how did he and his organization maintain iron control of Virginia politics for that long a period?  What is the legacy of the rule of Harry Byrd, and does that rule still affect Virginia politics today?

What was it like to live through the Depression? The greatest impact was whether a family member had a job.

From frivolity, attention turned to maintaining a home and putting food on the table. Unemployment reached at least 25%, hourly wages dropped by 60%, and white-collar workers’ salaries fell 40%. Farmers were paid almost nothing for what they produced.

Hoover believed it to be a state and local problem. FDR said, “Hunger is not debatable,” and an alphabet soup of programs tried to resolve the worst of the problems.

Droughts and floods made things worse. Even those working economized. Radio provided news and entertainment at home, and movies offered escape for 25 cents. Card games and jigsaw puzzles were cheap entertainment. But America prevailed – this generation grew up to be known as the Greatest Generation.

During the 70 years that the D&H transportation system was in operation between Carbondale, Pa. and the Hudson River, many villages, towns, and cities were founded and/or developed along the line of the D&H canal and railroad. These communities were shaped not only by their position on the canal, but also by the diverse populations that settled and grew these towns.   Although this transportation system was built to transport anthracite coal, a wide range of other products were also shipped to market.

This course will focus on the story of the D&H Canal and Gravity Railroad, the entrepreneurs and engineers responsible for its development, as well as the technological advances that occurred during the life of the canal and railroad.
 

This course is the second of a projected five-session arc exploring how Virginia’s leadership used a series of extra-legal meetings to negotiate the increasingly volatile last couple of years of being a British colony. In the spring of 1775, relations between Great Britain and her American colonies remained tense. Virginia had held an extra-legal meeting, styled a “convention,” in August, 1774, to advise their delegation how to address the situation at the 1st Continental Congress. This course will explore the ramifications of decisions made by Congress that fall and the subsequent events that led to the necessity of choosing delegates to attend a 2nd Congress. This prompted the convening of the 2nd convention in March, 1775. Subsequent classes will be timed to coincide with the 250th anniversaries of the remaining conventions, culminating—in May, 2026—with an examination of the pivotal Fifth Convention.

This course is the third of a projected five-session arc exploring how Virginia’s leadership used a series of extra-legal meetings to negotiate the increasingly volatile last couple of years of being a British colony.
In the summer of 1775, relations between Great Britain and her American colonies had been exacerbated by the battles at Lexington and Concord and the convening of the Second Continental Congress. Virginia had held two extra-legal meetings, styled  “conventions,” and were now obliged to call a third to help put the colony on a war footing, should the need arise.  This course will use primary documents not commonly known to the general public to explore the options and decisions that faced Virginia’s colonial leaders.   
Subsequent classes will be timed to coincide with the 250th anniversaries of the two remaining conventions, culminating—in May, 2026—with an examination of the pivotal Fifth Convention.