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Home > Digital Collections > Civil War > Richmond Nineteenth-Century Prints

Richmond Nineteenth-Century Print Collection

Digital Collections come from a broad range of sources, including materials that are offensive or contain negative stereotypes. VCU Libraries provides access to these items to support research and inquiry.

About this collection
The Richmond Nineteenth-Century Print Collection includes 146 images of buildings, streetscapes, events, and scenes of daily life of Richmond, Virginia. This set of images is part of James Branch Cabell Library's "Richmond and Virginia Print and Map Collection," housed in Special Collections and Archives.

Because of its status as the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond was often the focus of interest by American and British journals during and after the Civil War. The digital images presented here date from 1853 to 1901 and were scanned from six different periodicals that are part of the larger print and map collection.

The collection is composed of images from the following periodicals: American Architect and Building News (3 images, 1884-1893), Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (24 images, 1858-1891), Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion (2 images, 1853), Harper's Weekly (86 images, 1858-1890), Illustrated London News (6 images, 1856-1865), and the Richmond Dispatch (25 images, originally published in a Confederate Reunion special issue in 1896).

More than half of the images presented are from Harper's Weekly, one of the most popular journals in the nation, whose work is often referred to as illustrated journalism. During the Civil War, artist A. W. Warren, a national correspondent based in New York, drew many of the images of Richmond published in Harper's Weekly. After the war, William Ludwell Sheppard (1839-1912), a native and resident of Richmond, provided sketches of the city for the magazine from the late 1860s through the early 1880s. Sheppard was a noted painter who also designed three Civil War monuments that were erected in Richmond - the General A. P. Hill Monument in the city's north side (removed by the City of Richmond in December 2022), the soldier on top the Confederate Soldier's, and Sailor's Monument in Libby Hill Park (removed by the City of Richmond in June 2020), and the Howitzer Monument which stood on the Monroe Park campus of Virginia Commonwealth University (removed by protestors in June 2020).

Researchers and library patrons can access the larger "Richmond and Virginia Print and Map Collection" in James Branch Cabell Library's Special Collections and Archives. The department also houses the multi-volume bound reprint edition, 1860-1865, of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. VCU Libraries also subscribes to the online version of Harper's Weekly covering the years 1857 through 1877, HarpWeek: The Civil War Era and Reconstruction I and II (requires VCU login).

Display titles on select items have been altered to remove harmful and outdated language. All original titles from materials are maintained in the "Original Title" field for research and citation purposes.

Copyright
This material is in the public domain in the United States and thus is free of any copyright restriction. Acknowledgment of Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is requested.

Credits
VCU Libraries digitized this collection in 2012-2013. Digital Specialist Drew Rollo was responsible for the digitization and quality control, and Metadata Librarian Mary Anne Dyer created the metadata.

Printing is not supported at the primary Gallery Thumbnail page. Please first navigate to a specific Image before printing.

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  • Representation of the equestrian statue of Washington, at Richmond, Virginia

    Representation of the equestrian statue of Washington, at Richmond, Virginia

  • View of Main Street, Richmond, Virginia

    View of Main Street, Richmond, Virginia

  • Enslaved people waiting for auction, Virginia

    Enslaved people waiting for auction, Virginia

  • Auction of enslaved people at Richmond, Virginia

    Auction of enslaved people at Richmond, Virginia

  • Washington Monument at Richmond, Virginia

    Washington Monument at Richmond, Virginia

  • Ceremony at the grave, in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia

    Ceremony at the grave, in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia

  • Exhuming the remains of President Monroe in the Second Street Cemetery

    Exhuming the remains of President Monroe in the Second Street Cemetery

  • Landing at Richmond

    Landing at Richmond

  • Outside of the Warwick Mill, in which the city of Richmond feasted the Seventh Regiment and Richmond Volunteers

    Outside of the Warwick Mill, in which the city of Richmond feasted the Seventh Regiment and Richmond Volunteers

  • Alabama regiment marching through Capitol Square, Richmond, on their way to join the Confederate forces under Beauregard

    Alabama regiment marching through Capitol Square, Richmond, on their way to join the Confederate forces under Beauregard

  • Released prisoners returning to the camp of the Thirty-First Regiment New York Volunteers (Franklin's Division), from Richmond, Virginia by Alfred R. Waud

    Released prisoners returning to the camp of the Thirty-First Regiment New York Volunteers (Franklin's Division), from Richmond, Virginia

  • Prison and jailers at Richmond by James Gillette

    Prison and jailers at Richmond

  • Prison and jailers at Richmond; Confederate prisons on Main St. near 25th St. Richmond, Virginia by James Gillette

    Prison and jailers at Richmond; Confederate prisons on Main St. near 25th St. Richmond, Virginia

  • Prison and jailers at Richmond; 4th Story, Prison No. 2, Richmond by James Gillette

    Prison and jailers at Richmond; 4th Story, Prison No. 2, Richmond

  • Cold Harbor, nine miles from Richmond, VA., near General M'Clellan's Head-Quarters - Scene of a skirmish on May 24 by Alfred R. Waud

    Cold Harbor, nine miles from Richmond, VA., near General M'Clellan's Head-Quarters - Scene of a skirmish on May 24

  • Our troops marching down into the trenches before Richmond by Alfred R. Waud

    Our troops marching down into the trenches before Richmond

  • Army of the Potomac -- General Davidson's Brigade taking possession of Mechanicsville, near Richmond, Virginia, May 24, 1862 by Mead

    Army of the Potomac -- General Davidson's Brigade taking possession of Mechanicsville, near Richmond, Virginia, May 24, 1862

  • Army of the Potomac -- the Confederates evacuating Mechanicsville under the fire of Union batteries by Alfred R. Waud

    Army of the Potomac -- the Confederates evacuating Mechanicsville under the fire of Union batteries

  • Rendevous of our fleet in James River, off City Point, drawn on the spot, May 29, 1862

    Rendevous of our fleet in James River, off City Point, drawn on the spot, May 29, 1862

  • Birds eye view of Richmond and the vicinity

    Birds eye view of Richmond and the vicinity

  • Civil War in America: High-Street, Richmond, Virginia

    Civil War in America: High-Street, Richmond, Virginia

  • Last reconnoissance of the war balloon on the James River

    Last reconnoissance of the war balloon on the James River

  • Civil War in America: Drury's Bluff, a Confederate position on the James River, near Richmond

    Civil War in America: Drury's Bluff, a Confederate position on the James River, near Richmond

  • Map of Richmond, Virginia, and its environs, showing the Confederate forts, etc.

    Map of Richmond, Virginia, and its environs, showing the Confederate forts, etc.

  • Topographical map of Eastern Virginia From Fredericksburg to Richmond taken from tracings (now in the possession of the government) of the original railroad surveys of this portion of the state, comprising the topography for six miles on each side of the track by Charles Sholl

    Topographical map of Eastern Virginia From Fredericksburg to Richmond taken from tracings (now in the possession of the government) of the original railroad surveys of this portion of the state, comprising the topography for six miles on each side of the track

  • Exterior view of the Libey Prison, Richmond, Virginia by Harry E. Wrigley

    Exterior view of the Libey Prison, Richmond, Virginia

  • Interior of Libey Prison, Richmond, Va. by Harry E. Wrigley

    Interior of Libey Prison, Richmond, Va.

  • Encampment of Union prisoners at Belle Isle, Richmond, Virginia by Harry E. Wrigley

    Encampment of Union prisoners at Belle Isle, Richmond, Virginia

  • View of Richmond, Virginia, from the Libey Prison by Harry E. Wrigley

    View of Richmond, Virginia, from the Libey Prison

  • Prisons at Richmond -- Union troops prisoners at Belle Isle

    Prisons at Richmond -- Union troops prisoners at Belle Isle

  • Escaped refugees from the Libey Prison

    Escaped refugees from the Libey Prison

  • Richmond refugees on board the United States Sanitary Commission Boat, at City Point, Virginia by J. R. Hamilton

    Richmond refugees on board the United States Sanitary Commission Boat, at City Point, Virginia

  • Confederate iron-clad fleet forcing the obstructions in James River by Alfred R. Waud

    Confederate iron-clad fleet forcing the obstructions in James River

  • Black regiment quarters, Army of the James by L.L. Langdon

    Black regiment quarters, Army of the James

  • View of Libey Prison, Richmond by A.W. Warren

    View of Libey Prison, Richmond

  • Ruins on Main Street, Richmond by A.W. Warren

    Ruins on Main Street, Richmond

  • City of Richmond, Virginia view from Gamble's Hill by A.W. Warren

    City of Richmond, Virginia view from Gamble's Hill

  • City of Richmond, Virginia, looking westward by A.W. Warren

    City of Richmond, Virginia, looking westward

  • Before Petersburg -- Confederate fort and line of works near Burgess Mills, captured by the Sixth Corps, April 2, 1865 by A.W. Warren

    Before Petersburg -- Confederate fort and line of works near Burgess Mills, captured by the Sixth Corps, April 2, 1865

  • Before Petersburg -- The retreat of the Confederates across the Appomattox, by the Pocahontas Bridge, April 3, 1865 by A.W. Warren

    Before Petersburg -- The retreat of the Confederates across the Appomattox, by the Pocahontas Bridge, April 3, 1865

  • Union Army Entering Petersburg, Virginia, April 3, 1865 by J. R. Hamilton

    Union Army Entering Petersburg, Virginia, April 3, 1865

  • Scene of conflict in Virginia

    Scene of conflict in Virginia

  • Union Army entering Richmond, April 3, 1865

    Union Army entering Richmond, April 3, 1865

  • Richmond ladies going to receive government rations by Alfred R. Waud

    Richmond ladies going to receive government rations

  • Confederate soldiers taking the oath of allegiance in the Senate Chamber at Richmond, Virginia by Alfred R. Waud

    Confederate soldiers taking the oath of allegiance in the Senate Chamber at Richmond, Virginia

  • View of Belle Island on the James River, opposite Richmond by Joseph Becker

    View of Belle Island on the James River, opposite Richmond

  • Tredegar Iron-Works, at Richmond, Virginia by Alexander Gardner

    Tredegar Iron-Works, at Richmond, Virginia

  • Richmond election, July 25, 1865 -- The polling at the First Market-House, Corner of Maine and 17th Streets by J. R. Hamilton

    Richmond election, July 25, 1865 -- The polling at the First Market-House, Corner of Maine and 17th Streets

 
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