Library of Virginia — Attraction in Richmond

I traveled from Hartford, CT over weekend to conduct research in genealogy department on Monday. Little did I know that this department is not open on Monday’s. Never heard of state office closing on Monday. Our state archive (MS) is open every day of week.

I was told he several worker’s that many people visit on Monday’s thinking that they will have opportunity to go to genealogy department. I am quite sure the employees don’t have Monday’s off.

The building is beautiful and I was greeted very warmly by the security guards at desk; Tonya and Phyllis. They were apologetic and Tonya was the one who told me about Pocahontas Island. They were eagerly trying to find historical places for me to visit since I couldn’t conduct research.

I hope something is done about this Monday thing! Yes, I could have gone to sight but why would I when the norm is for state archives to be open Monday through Friday! I’ve never had this issue and I’ve done research at quite a...

Beautiful building with an awesome multimedia exhibition about Virginia's tribes called "Indigenous Perspectives". It highlights the commonwealth’s Indigenous history and how the tribes remain a vital part of Virginia today. The exhibition explores the voices and experiences of Virginia’s tribal communities. You can view excerpts from video interviews with citizens of Virginia’s eleven federally and state-recognized tribes, archival records from the Library’s collection that were collaboratively selected by the tribes and Library staff members, and objects contributed by the tribes that reflect their traditions and culture. Highly recommend! Also parking is free of charge which is a huge perk in downtown Richmond. Cafe Can Can has a very small but Wonderful selection of sandwiches (the Jardin was excellent!!!) and pastry. Restrooms were clean and roomy. Staff...

We recently spent 2 days doing genealogy research at the library. We were very impressed, and would consider this to be second only to the FamilySeach library in UT. Most of the staff was outstanding, but a few didn't seem to want to give more than single syllable answers to questions. We were impressed that they offer free non-resident VA library cards, which we took advantage of. We had prepared a list of books, manuscripts and documents we wanted to look at the the library staff jumped right in to order the books that needed to be retrieved from the closed stacks, and then gave us a tour of the library to show where the rest of our documents could be found. The only negative was the quality of the scanners which functioned as though they were several generations behind...