Virginia Historical Society
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The Virginia Historical Society was established in 1831 as a private organization. The Society survives to this day based on the support of its membership and endowment. In between the years of 1831 and 1861, the organization obtained valuable books, manuscripts, museum objects, and natural history specimens.
Civil War Era
The society, during the war, moved its collections from place to place with many objects being lost. The entire endowment, of five thousand dollars, was invested in confederate war bonds. Which was completely lost as well.
Finding a Home
In 1893 the society found a permanent residence. The society moved in the so called Lee house (707 East Franklin St Richmond,VA). In 1933, the society's executive committee approved the construction of a fire proof annex in the back of the Lee house. As of the early twentieth century, the original document of the Albemarle County Declaration of Independence was preserved within one of the rooms of the society's archives.
In 2004 the VHS announced the 175th anniversary Campaign, most visibly for the building of a new wing on the Lee house.