The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) houses one of the world’s great cultural resources, with collections representing the Native peoples of the Americas from their earliest history to the present day. Infinity of Nations presents more than two hundred of these works chosen from nearly seven hundred objects of cultural, historical, and aesthetic importance on view at the museum’s George Gustav Heye Center in New York. Please visit this free online source of extraordinary images HERE.

Tova has been living in a tiny cabin in the forest for 8 years. In this video she gives you a tour of her home. This is a vlog about our struggles and joys of living off the grid in the forests of Jämtland, Sweden. See and hear her story HERE.

Harvard University Professor John Stauffer talks about African Americans and the Civil War. He examines Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address, focusing on the president’s claim that secession was unconstitutional. He also teaches about President Lincoln’s efforts to keep the border states in the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the involvement of black soldiers in the Union and Confederate armies HERE.

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of African and African American music to the United States’ musical traditions. Steven Lewis, a Curator of Music and Performing Arts at the Smithsonian, notes that “African American influences are so fundamental to American music there would be no American music without them.” Jon Beebe, a Jazz pianist, professional musician, and an interpretive ranger at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, leads us on an exploration of how and why African rhythms and beats came to play important roles in the musical history and musical evolution of the United States HERE.

Tidewater Virginia was the center of the first sustained English settlements in North America. For two centuries its houses and towns were clustered along its waterways, which often served in the stead of any overland roads. Virginia's waterways played a major role in the colony's economy at every level. Please join interpreter Michael Romero to learn about the enslaved and free Black mariners of 18th-century Virginia HERE.

Episode one-hundred and eight, in which we show you what an ordinary day looks like for a young Swedish family at Talasbuan. See and hear their story HERE.

When Peter Deadfoot ran away from enslavement, he was described as "an indifferent shoemaker, a good butcher, plowman, and carter; an excellent sawyer and waterman, understands breaking oxen well, and is one of the best scythemen...in America; in short, he is so ingenious a fellow, that he can turn his hand to any thing." Join a group of Historic Tradespeople for an exploration of these many skills, what it would have taken for one man to learn them all, and the lives of skilled enslaved people in colonial Virginia HERE.

The Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS) is a Monticello initiative that collaborates with archaeologists working across North America and the Caribbean to bring the material and social lives of enslaved and free people to the public. Dr. Ayana Omilade Flewellen, Dr. Alexandra Jones, Dr. William White, and Ms. Gabrielle Miller will discuss how their research and community education programs on St. Croix are empowering Crucian communities while deepening local and regional understandings of enslavement. Join us for a live panel on DAACS’s collaboration with the Society of Black Archaeologists through their groundbreaking work on 18th and 19th c. sites on St. Croix.

Ivan McClellen wants to change the conversation about black cowboy culture. For the last six years, Ivan has been weaving his way between horse trailers and bucking chutes at rodeos documenting the daily life of black cowboys through photographs. It's not a novelty. This is a rich culture that has long written the story of the West, albeit an undercurrent to what the general public perceives as a cowboy. With the support of EPIC Provisions, Modern Huntsman’s interview with Ivan is a continuation of our exploration of blackness in western culture through "The Forgotten Cowboys" and brings a muted scene to the forefront of discussion HERE. See host Modern Huntsman HERE.

The AP recently covered the history of Black coachmen in Colonial Williamsburg, with a special focus on the upcoming reveal of the Benjamin Spraggins Carriage. The article also features insights on the visibility of Black guides and workers throughout CW's history. The Dedication of the Benjamin Spraggins carriage begins with a carriage processional at the Capitol building and concludes with the dedication at the Colonial Courthouse. This event is free and open to the public. Please visit the recorded live even HERE.

Since the second half of the twentieth century, archaeological studies of slave life in Virginia have proliferated, resulting in a new body of evidence to support historical interpretations at historic sites and museums. This presentation uses data from archaeological sites, mainly in Williamsburg, to discuss cultural practices relating to locally made items, imported goods, the landscape, and the use of animals for foods and medicines. Please join us with Dr. Ywone Edwards-Ingram, Asst. Professor of Archaeology at the Virginia Commonwealth University and past Staff Archaeologist and Coordinator of African-American Archaeology at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation HERE.

First U.S. president, general and statesman George Washington occupies such an unassailable place in American history that he almost seems not human—"more a monument than a man," wrote Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian Gordon Wood. But George Washington was human, and in an address Monday, February 25, 2013 in the Marvin Center's Continental Ballroom, Dr. Wood discussed some of the unique characteristics that shaped the man into a hero and influenced him—and our emerging nation HERE.

Join our Coach & Livestock team as they discuss the history of Black coachmen, their impact on Colonial Williamsburg, and what plans are in place to carry their stories into the future HERE.

People of African descent have made great contributions to the United States and its history. Think about all of the food, music, dance, medicine, farming and religious practices that people of African descent have contributed to American culture. Think about the sacrifices they’ve made to create and protect the United States as an independent nation. Matthew Skic, a Curator of Exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, joins us to investigate the life and deeds of the Forten Family, a family of African-descended people who worked in the revolutionary era and beyond to build a better world for their family, community, state, and nation HERE.

As a child growing up in rural Mississippi, Lusia “Lucy” Harris often stayed up past her bedtime watching her favorite N.B.A. players, dreaming of one day playing on the same courts. Reaching 6 feet 3 inches by the time she was in high school, Harris was often called “long and tall and that’s all” by her classmates — but she knew her height would be an asset on the court. And she wasn’t just tall enough to play the game. She was a rare talent who would go on to be a three-time national college champion and an Olympic silver medalist, making her a national sensation. View this beautiful short film HERE.

Join us at the Concord Museum for the ceremony of the Massachusetts Historical Society’s 2022 Peter J. Gomes Memorial Book Prize awarded to Robert A. Gross for his book The Transcendentalists and Their World, published in 2021 by Macmillan Publishers. The Peter J. Gomes Memorial Book Prize is given to the best nonfiction work on the history of Massachusetts published during the preceding year. The ceremony at the Concord Museum will feature Robert A. Gross in conversation with Dennis Fiori, former Concord Museum Executive Director and MHS President Emeritus HERE.

John Wood Sweet, a Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of the book, The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America, winner of the 2023 Bancroft Prize in American History, joins us to investigate the first published rape trial in the United States and how one woman, Lanah Sawyer, bravely confronted the man who raped her by bringing him to court for his crime HERE.

One man leaves the city life behind to build a cheap off grid log cabin and homestead in the Canadian wilderness, including a log home, an outdoor kitchen, an outhouse, a woodshed and a sauna bathhouse. Building mostly with hand tools, Shawn James harvests building materials from the forests north of Toronto, Canada and crafts them into functional tools and shelters using traditional woodworking tools and methods. He practices bushcraft and survival skills every day, including fire starting, tree identification and harvesting, wild edible foraging, fishing, hunting, camping in the summer and winter, travelling by canoe and snowshoe and much more HERE.

Join us for this special Women’s History Month livestream as we not only meet Anne Blair Banister, a citizen of Williamsburg, but also meet the woman who portrays the historic figure. We invite you to join us for a conversation with Actor/Interpreters Hope Wright and Michelle Greensmith as they discuss their research, methods and experiences in interpreting women in the 18th century and the complexities within it HERE.

Women of the 18th century engaged in many different types of labor, inside and outside the home. Please join Amanda Doggett and our panel of tradespeople and interpreters for a discussion of the experience of working women in 18th-century colonial America HERE.

Ann Wager was the mistress of the Bray School in Williamsburg, the oldest and longest-lived school to educate free and enslaved Black children in Virginia. Please join this pioneering teacher in 1769 as she explores the various ways women receive, provide, and utilize their education in Virginia.

As power and authority were passed matrilineally in Powhatan society, there have been many strong and significant female Powhatan leaders throughout time. Jamie highlights some of these leaders since the 17th-century in today's video about female leadership in different tribes in the Powhatan paramount chiefdom. Please join us HERE.

Liberation and Freedom Day, celebrated each March 3, commemorates the emancipation of the 14,000 men, women, and children who were enslaved in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Please join us at Monticello as we acknowledge this important moment in our community’s history with a live panel discussion. Panelists will include archivist and descendant of Monticello’s enslaved community, Calvin Jefferson; descendant of Monticello’s enslaved community and Monticello’s Public Relations and Community Engagement Officer, Gayle Jessup White; and local historian Sam Towler HERE.

Visit with the apothecary and milliner/mantua-maker as they discuss the connections between fashion and health HERE.

Explore the material culture and lives of self-liberated Black women in the 18th century and the society they inhabited. In this new collaboration, based on runaway ads from 18th-century newspapers, see garments worn by our actor interpreters and made by our Millner and Mantua makers. Join our experts for a discussion of people about women who liberated themselves from slavery, and what they wore when they “went away” HERE.

While Herakles pursues the hell-hound Cerberus in the underworld to satisfy one of his twelve labours, his father Amphitryon, wife Megara, and children are sentenced to death in Thebes by Lycus. Herakles returns in time to save them, but is seized by Madness, with tragic consequences. Hosted by Joel Christensen, with Anne-Sophie Noel. Presented by the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, the Kosmos Society, and the Out of Chaos Theatre. Stream this video here.

Join the carpenters for this program that puts into practice the "object-based study" system that Colonial Williamsburg uses to train trades apprentices. Using "experimental archeology" or "reverse-engineering," we study buildings in our collection (and elsewhere) to learn about traditional construction techniques and advance the skills of our apprentices HERE.

On April 10th, 1606, King James I granted the Virginia Company of London a charter. Just over a year later, on May 14, 1607, this privately-funded, joint-stock company established the first, permanent English colony in North America at Jamestown, in the colony of Virginia. What work did the Virginia Company have to do to establish this colony? How much money did it have to raise, and from whom did it raise this money, to support its colonial venture? Misha Ewen, a Lecturer in early modern history at the University of Bristol and author of The Virginia Venture: American Colonization and English Society, 1580-1660, joins us to discuss the early history of the Virginia Company and its early investors HERE.

This classic period film is a documentary profile of conservationist and wildlife photographer, Dick Proenneke, at his home in the Lake Clark area of Alaska. It features close-up scenes of native wildlife, dramatic panoramas of the change of seasons and clips of Proenneke carving his log cabin out of the wild Alaskan wilderness HERE.

Please join this week’s Online Reading of Greek Tragedy with Euripides’ dramatic work, “Bacchae.” This terrifying late work of the last great Greek tragedian is based on the Greek myth of King Pentheus of Thebes and his mother Agave, and their punishment by the god Dionysus for denying his immortal parentage. The Bacchae is considered to be among the greatest tragedies ever written. Hosted by Joel Christensen, with special guest, Tomothy Moore. Presented by the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, the Kosmos Society, and the Out of Chaos Theatre. Stream this video here.

“The order of things should be somewhat reversed,—the seventh should be man’s day of toil, wherein to earn his living by the sweat of his brow; and the other six his Sabbath of the affections and the soul, in which to range this widespread garden, and drink in the soft influences and sublime revelations of Nature.” So spoke Henry Thoreau in his youthful commencement address, foreseeing a life that would come to stand for a uniquely American mysticism and woodland wisdom. Rev. Dr. Barry Andrews here delivers a sermon in preview of his upcoming book, published by the University of Massachusetts in 2024, entitled Mother Nature’s Child: The Spiritual Message of Henry David Thoreau.

Women’s work has often been assumed to be exclusively in the home, but that is not the only sphere where their work was needed. Join a panel of tradeswomen to discuss the complex lives of 18th century women who managed to successfully balance home, family, and business HERE.

When Women's History Month is observed, whose stories are most often shared? Join us for a discussion of the women of revolutionary Williamsburg, how we discuss women's history in the present, and some unique tools students can use to expand their understanding of women of the past HERE.

Earlier this month, we discussed the lives of enslaved women at Monticello. This week we turn to the experiences of white women who lived on the mountaintop, including Thomas Jefferson’s wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson; Jefferson’s sister, Anna Scott Jefferson Marks; Jefferson’s daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, and her daughters. Their positions of comfort and authority stood in stark contrast to women held in bondage on the plantation, yet their choices were curtailed by patriarchal laws and customs of the time. Join us for a live Q&A with Associate Curator Emilie Johnson, Associate Curator of Decorative Arts Diane Ehrenpreis, and Senior Historian and Donor Relations Officer Ann Lucas HERE.

Join a panel of experts as they explore the vital roles women played in the 18th century workforce. Formally and informally, women entered the trades, ran businesses, and labored to craft and sustain their world. This is not the past we mostly imagine today. Please enter this conversation with the women of Colonial Williamsburg for an illuminating examination of Women in the 18th Workforce HERE.

What comes to mind when you think of a quilt? Family, friends, warmth, and tradition? Perhaps you think of a quilt as a striking art object hung on the wall, or even a history lesson that makes a statement about a particular society at a given time. For many, quilts are a direct highway to the past. Join Kim Ivey, senior curator of textiles, for a personal tour of the exhibit, Art of the Quilter, and a look at how and where Colonial Williamsburg’s antique quilts are stored when they are not on display HERE.

How did Indigenous people adapt and survive the onslaught of Indigenous warfare, European diseases, and population loss between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries? How did past generations of Indigenous women ensure that their culture would live on from one generation to the next so that their people would endure? Brooke Bauer, an assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and author of the book Becoming Catawba: Catawba Women and Nation Building, 1540-1840, joins us to investigate these questions and what we might learn from the Catawba HERE.

In 18th century Williamsburg, Sarah Trebell is keeper of the famed Raleigh Tavern. Sarah enjoys having her finger on the pulse of Williamsburg's social life, and at the Raleigh, she is at the heart of it all. However, after the repeal of the Stamp Act, there's change in the air. Join her as she discusses the changes and choices before her in autumn of 1766 HERE.

“From a distance, it is hard to tell whether the three figures walking the salt playa are human, bird or some other animal. Through binoculars, I see they are pelicans, juveniles, gaunt and emaciated without water or food. In feathered robes, they walk with the focus of fasting monks toward enlightenment or death. . .”

Read this prophetic call for wholeness and healing from Terry Tempest Williams HERE.

This evocative collection by internationally acclaimed photographer Sally Mann is a masterful reinvention of the art of landscape photography. Sally Mann is among the most innovative and daring artists working with a camera today. DEEP SOUTH is a collection of her exquisite, ethereal landscape photographs, taken in the years since she rose to international fame with her groundbreaking book Immediate Family. Masterfully adapting technical methods employed by early masters of landscape photography, the photographs in DEEP SOUTH capture what Mann calls the radical light of the American South. Watch this short film of her startlingly powerful images here.

Join Colonial Williamsburg Milliners as they explore how a recent "Gown in a Day" project informs their understanding of their trade's history. Learn how recreating original objects heightens their understanding of an 18th century work environment and why shortcuts in sewing may have been a necessity to get the job done HERE.

When Heracles was near his death, he wishes to be burned on a funeral pyre while still alive. In the play Philoctetes, Sophocles develops the myth in which no one but Philoctetes would light Heracles' funeral pyre, and in return for this favor Heracles gave Philoctetes his bow. Philoctetes leaves with the Greeks to participate in the Trojan War, but is bitten on the foot by a snake while walking on Chryse, a sacred ground. For this reason he is left by Odysseus and the Atreidai (sons of Atreus) on the desert island Lemnos, with tragic consequences .Stream this video here.