Welcome to the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society

Collecting, preserving, and interpreting the history of our community!

PROGRAM UPDATES

Guided history walking tours are available year-round. Contact Sterling Howell at [email protected] or (434) 296-1492 to learn more and to schedule a tour.

All of our programs are still being held online. Check our calendar page for all upcoming online programs and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for additional information and to watch recordings of our programs!

Register for the ACHS Virtual Annual Membership Meeting!!

Race & Sports

Our new oral history initiative, Race & Sports, will collect and preserve the recollections of those involved in Charlottesville and Albemarle County public high school sports between the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision and the breaking of the athletic color line at the University of Virginia (1970). This project will reveal the complex story of the interaction between race and athletics in public schools during the tumultuous time of the civil rights movement. Check out our first online program for this project with Kent Merritt, David Sloan, moderated by Shelley Murphy, and including Phyllis Leffler, George H. Gilliam and Annie Valentine in partnership with AARP Virginia, ASALH: Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and AAHGS-Greater Richmond, Virginia Chapter. The Virginia Humanities and the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation Enriching Communities fund are generously supporting our work. Please consider supporting us with this initiative. And do you have stories or know others who do who would like to share with this project to help tell this important part of our local history: [email protected]

History is not the past; it is the story we tell about the past.

Help us tell the story.

MEMBERSHIP

Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society members, if you have already renewed for 2021, thank you! Membership dues make up a large portion of our annual operating budget. Every membership counts! Please continue to support us!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN YOUR HISTORICAL SOCIETY

SUPPORT US

The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society is facing a number of challenges and needs your support to help #ACHSOpenOurDoors during the Covid-19 crisis.

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT YOUR HISTORICAL SOCIETY

VISION

Our vision is to reimagine and reinvent the role of the historical society in the twenty-first century: to be a strong civic organization that embraces, in all that we do, the diversity of our community’s history and experience, and promotes a greater understanding of our past, to enlighten the present and foster an inclusive history for future generations.

MISSION

History is not the past; it is the story we tell about the past. Every person in Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville has a unique and powerful story to tell. Through collecting, preserving, and interpreting the history of our community, we are committed to informing, inspiring, and bringing together all people, creating opportunities for new relationships and new understandings.

VALUES

Our work is grounded in a belief in the worth and dignity of every human being. We respect people, communities, and cultures. We value discovery, creativity, integrity, and diversity. We believe in the potential for history to enrich our lives and to create stronger relationships and more vibrant communities. We approach our work with integrity and transparency.