Virginia Historical Society Rolls Out Slave Database

The Virginia Historical Society has put together a database allowing the public to research African-American genealogy.

At a seminar on Tuesday night at the in Old Town, society Curator Lauranett Lee and Assistant Archivist Paige Newman showed about 90 attendees how to navigate the free database, which currently includes records in the society’s collection.

“It’s not just for hardcore academic researchers, but for amateur genealogists and family historians,” Lee said.

Currently, there are about 4,000 names in the Unknown No Longer database and the group is dutifully working to eventually add the 8.5 million currently in the society's collection. It rolled out in September with about 1,500 names.

It is difficult for many African Americans to locate their ancestors because of the slave trade, Newman said. Fortunately, "we have an abundance of riches in our collection," she said. "The historical society was founded in 1831 and in the records we're able to find the names of the enslaved."

The group has conducted four workshops showcasing the new database – two in Richmond, one in Hampton and of course, Alexandria.

“It just worked well to bring this story to Alexandria,” Lee said. “Alexandria has a very large slave population. This was one of the slave trading homes.”

A Dominion Power foundation funded the project with a $125,000 grant and Richmond’s Helium Studios put together its technical side.

To use the free website, visit www.vahistorical.org. For anyone interested in contributing to the database, contact the VHS vice president of collections, E. Lee Shepard, at lshepard@vahistorical.org, or 804-342-9670.