Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Richmond (Va.) Richmond Independence Bicentennial Commission Records, 1976-1980. Local government records collection, Richmond Organization Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in records transfers from Richmond under accession number 30804.

Historical Information

The city of Richmond, located between Henrico and Chesterfield Counties, was named by William Byrd (1674-1744), who envisioned the development of a city at the falls of the James River and with the help of William Mayo laid out the town in 1737. The name probably came from the English borough of Richmond upon Thames, which Byrd visited on several occasions. Richmond was established in 1742 and in 1779 was designated the capital of Virginia effective 30 April 1780. It was incorporated as a town, although "stiled the city of Richmond," in 1782 and was incorporated as a city in 1842. It served as the capital of the Confederacy from mid-1861 to April 1865. Richmond was enlarged by the annexation of Manchester (or South Richmond) in 1910, and by the addition of Barton Heights, Fairmount, and Highland Park in 1914. Further annexations from Chesterfield County occurred in 1942 and 1970.

During the burning of Richmond on April 3, 1865, during the Civil War, Richmond circuit court judge John A. Meredith led efforts to save the circuit court records found at the State Court House. Rescuers successfully removed all the papers that were necessary to pending suits and many of the order books, but all of the wills and deed books were lost. Records of the superior court and circuit superior court of law and chancery were also destroyed. Most of the pre–Civil War Hustings Court records exist.

Scope and Content

Richmond (Va.) Independence Bicentennial Commission Records, 1976-1980, consists of the following records: Albemarle--American Issue Forum; American Revolution--Bicentennial; Bicentennial Cities--Descendants of the Signers; Federalism Seventy-Six--Henrico County Bicentennial; Henrico Schools--NEA; NEH--Patrick Henry Reenactment; Prison Civil War--Virginia Historical Society; Virginia Historic Landmarks--Yorktown, and Other Materials

Related Material

Additional Richmond records can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm" found on the Library of Virginia's web site.

Additional Richmond Records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection .

For more information and a listing of lost records localities see Lost Records research note .

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Richmond (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Organization records--Virginia--Richmond, City of.
• Public records--Virginia--Richmond, City of.

Geographical Names:

• Richmond (Va.)--History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Local government records--Virginia--Richmond, City of.

Adjunct Descriptive Data