More than 80 applications were submitted for the Virginia Museum of History & Culture‘s (VMHC) Commemorating America’s 250th Anniversary initiative.
Eleven Virginia-based historical societies, community centers, educational institutions and state-recognized Indian tribes were awarded grant funding of more than $500,000.
The 2025 awardees are Historic Staunton Foundation, the Fredericksburg Area Museum & Cultural Center, Historic Alexandria, Historic Richmond, Historical Society of Western Virginia (Roanoke), The JXN Project (Richmond), Monacan Nation Cultural Foundation (Amherst), Pamunkey Indian Tribe (King William), Toano Historical Society, Virginia Tribal Education Consortium (Ashland) and WHRO Public Media (Norfolk).
“VMHC is proud to play a leading role in the enduring and far-reaching mission of saving and sharing Virginia’s history. We are similarly proud to be able to provide meaningful financial support to our fellow history organizations—empowering great preservation and education efforts taking place in communities all across Virginia,” VMHC President and CEO Jamie Bosket said.
The Historic Staunton Foundation will develop a preservation and rehabilitation plan while property research and archaeological documentation is conducted of the Cabell Log House. Freeman Edmund Cabell built the house in 1869 and his descendants owned it for more than 100 years. The Cabell Log House is the only structure remaining in Staunton of a 19th-Century exposed-log structure.
VMHC funding will allow the Fredericksburg Area Museum & Cultural Center to mount a new exhibition on the area’s Black history called “Living Legacies,” with extensive community involvement of compelling objects, images and stories that represent fundamental moments in the local, state and national history.
Funding will allow the Historical Society of Western Virginian to mount a new exhibition, “Western Virginia’s Tribal Nations: Preserving Culture, Identity and Traditions,” which will provide interpretation of westward expansion, the French & Indian War, Lord Dunmore’s War, the American Revolution and the impact of each on indigenous nations. Archival and ethnological research will allow viewers to learn more about the Tutelo Indians and their territory throughout western Virginia pre-European contact, as well as their subsequent absorption into present-day nations.
The initiative is associated with the upcoming exhibition “Give Me Liberty: Virginia & The Forging of a Nation.” Requests totaled more than $5 million and applications related to America’s semiquincentennial were given special consideration, although it was not a requirement. This year is the fourth and largest grant cycle for the Commonwealth History Fund, which will see VMHC award more than $2 million in the first five years.
“The impressive projects chosen come from organizations of all sizes, are spread across every region of the Commonwealth and span a great deal of historical topics and time periods,” said Bosket.
Virginia Tribes will be the focus of several funded projects including a documentary about Native identity in the 100 years since the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act, an apprenticeship program to honor and preserve Monacan pottery and cultural traditions, and an exhibition focused on the voices of modern Indigenous people telling stories of westward expansion. Two awardees will create dynamic educational materials for the public and classrooms featuring previously overlooked stories, including stories of the American Revolution.
African American history in the state will feature prominently in engagements and exhibitions of multiple projects, while other organizations will focus on landmarks in their cities such as Alexandria City Hall, Monumental Church, the Cabell Log House and the Pamunkey Indian Museum and Cultural Center.
More information about each recipient and the projects that were funded is available online.
Founded in partnership with Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources in 2021 and with the support of Dominion Energy and others, the Commonwealth History Fund furthers VMHC’s mission to support and encourage meaningful history education and preservation projects throughout Virginia. Previous awards have funded preservation, publications, artifact acquisition, research, conservation of artifacts and educational programming.
VMHC is one of more than 500 organizations in Virginia dedicated to saving, sharing and studying the history of the Commonwealth.
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Historic Staunton Foundation purchases Edmund Cabell house for Black history preservation
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Rebecca Barnabi
