thumb|The Society houses Writing the Declaration of Independence, 1776, [[Jean Leon Gerome Ferris' idealized 1900 depiction of (left to right) Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Virginian Thomas Jefferson of the Committee of Five working on the Declaration.]]
The Virginia Museum of History and Culture founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a major repository, research, and teaching center for Virginia history. It is a private, non-profit organization, supported almost entirely by private contributions. In 2004, it was designated the official state historical society of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The historical society's headquarters was renamed from Virginia Historical Society to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in 2018.
The museum features exhibitions and programming for visitors of all ages and has more than of exhibition gallery space and the largest display of Virginia artifacts on permanent view. The Virginia Museum of History & Culture is the only museum with all of Virginia's history under one roof—all centuries, regions, and topics are covered.
Mission
The mission of the historical society is to connect people to America's past through the unparalleled story of Virginia. By collecting, preserving, and interpreting the Commonwealth's history, the society links past with present and inspires future generations.
History
On December 29, 1831, twenty-eight Virginians—consisting of political, economic, and social leaders—met in the House of Delegates chamber of the Virginia State Capitol to establish a state historical society. Christened the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society, the new institution's mission was to preserve the memory of the commonwealth's prominent colonial and Revolutionary past at a time when Virginia was experiencing the movement of many of its citizens out of the state, which contributed to a growing sense of social upheaval and a perceived disconnection with Virginia's "golden age." To give the new historical society a boost from the very beginning, its founders elected Chief Justice John Marshall as its first president and former president James Madison its first honorary member.
In its early years, the historical society gathered an eclectic collection of natural history specimens, historical artifacts, and printed and written material. From time to time, it published the texts of historic documents and the addresses delivered at its annual meetings. This was hampered, however, by having virtually no endowment and no permanent home. In 1848, the institution shortened its cumbersome name to the Virginia Historical Society to reflect a primarily historical focus as it became more active in publishing historical material. an agency of the state government, which also had significant historical holdings (both artifacts and archives), forming a unique private-public partnership.
In 2018, after nearly a year of research, community conversations, and strategic planning, the Virginia Historical Society announced a new name for its headquarters facility at 428 N. Boulevard in Richmond, Virginia—The Virginia Museum of History & Culture.
In 2019, the street on which the Virginia Museum of History & Culture is located was renamed Arthur Ashe Boulevard in honor of Arthur Ashe. Ashe grew up in Richmond, but was barred from playing tennis at the white-only courts in Byrd Park. Ashe went on to become the first black man to win major championships at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and the Australian Open.
Programs
thumb|right|200px|[[Mann Page|Mann and Elizabeth Page, by John Wollaston, circa 1757.]]
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture offers a wide array of educational programs, especially for students and teachers. These include outreach programs that take place in school classrooms, guided tours of exhibitions, and workshops and week-long summer institutes for teachers.
The museum offers three members-only evening lectures and around 20 noontime lectures every year that are open to the public. Audio and videos of past lectures are accessible on the web site.
Current exhibitions include The Story of Virginia, a long-term exhibition that interprets 16,000 years of Virginia history from the earliest artifacts of Native Americans to Virginia at the beginning of the 21st century.