The Valentine Receives NEH Grant for Storage Upgrades

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2022

Contact:
Meredith Mason, APR
Director of Public Relations & Marketing
mmason@thevalentine.org

The Valentine Receives NEH Grant for Storage Upgrades

RICHMOND – On April 13, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced a grant awarding $408,761 to The Valentine for new collection storage materials. The grant will go toward the Valentine Moment Campaign, a yearslong effort to modernize the museum’s storage facilities and strengthen the presentation of Richmond history by analyzing all 1.6 million objects in its collection.

The Valentine received the full amount requested with a 3:1 matching requirement after demonstrating its commitment to preserving local history, addressing complex social issues and engaging diverse audiences. The grant will support a $1.6 million project to purchase and install compact storage cabinetry and fixtures in the main museum building, under the umbrella of the larger $16 million Valentine Moment Campaign.

“The Valentine Moment Campaign will fortify our museum to serve Richmonders for generations to come. The NEH’s generous grant is a crucial part of our efforts,” said Valentine Director Bill Martin. “This infrastructure upgrade allows us to safely store important historical objects, and our goal is to use these objects to engage, challenge and inspire our community.”

The Valentine was awarded the largest grant of any other humanities project in Virginia and is in the top 8% of the 245 grant recipients across the country.

More information about the NEH grants is available here: https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-announces-3317-million-245-humanities-projects-nationwide

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ABOUT THE VALENTINE

The Valentine has been collecting, preserving and interpreting Richmond’s 400-year history for over a century. Located in the heart of historic downtown, the Valentine is a place for residents and tourists to discover the diverse stories that tell the broader history of this important region.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.

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The Valentine Launches Walking Tours Throughout Richmond

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2022

Contact:
Meredith Mason, APR
Director of Public Relations & Marketing
mmason@thevalentine.org

The Valentine Launches Walking Tours Throughout Richmond

RICHMOND – This weekend, The Valentine will begin its 2022 walking tour season, which explores neighborhoods and historic sites across Richmond. Each tour reveals little-known stories throughout history that shaped Richmond today. In addition to offering popular traditional tours and the groundbreaking augmented reality tour of Monument Avenue which first launched last summer, The Valentine will debut several new experiences.

The inaugural tour will begin at The Valentine on Saturday, April 16 at 10:00 a.m., with a complimentary breakfast served at 9:00 a.m. The tour will explore the museum’s own historic Court End neighborhood. One of the oldest Richmond neighborhoods, Court End is full of diverse stories of early Richmonders and surviving architectural gems nestled among the ever-evolving city center.

Tours are scheduled for Saturdays, Sundays and Thursdays between April 16 and October 29. The walking tours offered this year include:

  • Origin Stories: Court End
  • Murals of Jackson Ward
  • Highlights of Hollywood Cemetery
  • History of Church Hill
  • Figures of Freedom (Shockoe Bottom & Downtown)
  • Monument Avenue: Origins and Reverberations Augmented Reality
  • Ballot Battle: Richmond Suffrage (Downtown)
  • Barton Heights: Northside
  • Shockoe Hill Cemetery

Valentine Members also receive access to Director’s Tours of Church Hill, Shockoe Hill Cemetery and Northside led by Director Bill Martin.

“We’re telling some fascinating and meaningful stories that most Richmonders haven’t heard before,” said Martin. “It’s important to us to tell these stories in the places they happened. This year, we expanded our tours to include Barton Heights and Shockoe Hill Cemetery – two historically significant sites that have not seen the love and recognition they deserve.”

The full tour schedule can be found at https://thevalentine.org/events/. Tours are $20 for adults, $10 for Valentine Members and free for children under 18. Private groups and self-guided tours are also available through The Valentine’s website.

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The Valentine has been collecting, preserving and interpreting Richmond’s 400-year history for over a century. Located in the heart of historic downtown, the Valentine is a place for residents and tourists to discover the diverse stories that tell the broader history of this important region.

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