Featured Items

A Festive Dance

This watercolor by English artist John White shows a festive dance scene in Secotan, an Indian town in the Outer Banks region of present-day North Carolina. White visited the town in July 1585, when a great religious ceremony, perhaps connected to the corn harvest, was taking place. Indians from…

Monacan Quilt

This quilt, depicting Bishop Heath Light of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia shaking hands with former Monacan chief Kenneth Branham, is the work of Pat McCauley, wife of Monacan tribal member Tommy McCauley. It was made to commemorate the return of seven-and-a-half acres of Monacan…

Smith Rescued by Pocahontas

A hand-colored engraving produced in New York City in the late nineteenth century recreates the perhaps-apocryphal 1607 scene of John Smith being saved by Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of the Virginia Indian political alliance known as Tsenacomoco. Opechancanough,…

Mattaponi Blackware

This pot is a piece of classic blackware by Christine Custalow, a member of the Mattaponi tribe. The pottery is formed with coils of clay, then covered in pine needles and wood and fired in an outdoor kiln to create a black finish. For more information about the artist and her process, see this…

Dr. Phenix (George P.) and old man splitting boards. Indian Settlement

Dr. George Perley Phenix (left) and an unidentified Monacan Indian man split boards at the Indian settlement in Amherst in 1914. Phenix (1864–1930), a Maine native, was an educator in Connecticut before taking charge of academic affairs at the Hampton Institute in 1904. He served as the…

Unus Americanus ex Virginia

This engraving, taken from life, shows an American Indian man wearing a necklace, earrings, and head ornaments. The inscription in the upper left reads, "Unus Americanus ex Virginia" (an American from Virginia), a place name that early in the seventeenth century referred to much of both present-day…

Recent Items

Pocahontas

Created by Simon van de Passe, this 1616 engraved portrait of the Virginia Indian Pocahontas is the only known image of her made from life. The Dutch artist was working in London that year when Pocahontas arrived in England with her husband, John Rolfe. Once in London, Pocahontas was lodged and clothed at the expense of the Virginia Company of London, the joint-stock corporation dedicated to the

Pocahontas

Created by an unknown artist, this portrait depictsthe Virginia Indian Pocahontasand is based on a 1616 engraving by Simon van de Passe, which is the only known image of her made from life. The caption reads: "Matoaks als Rebecka daughter to the mighty Prince Powhatan Emperour ofAttanoughkomouckals virginia converted and baptized in the Christian faith, and wife to the wor.thMr. Tho:

About the Project

The Virginia Indian Archive is a collection of images, documents, and audiovisual resources representing the history and cultural experiences of Virginia Indians since colonial times. Items in the collections were gathered from a wide range of sources, both historical and contemporary. A resource tool available to teachers, students, researchers, and the public, the archive is accessible to anyone interested in Native peoples in the region we now call Virginia. ... Read More