For more than forty-five years we’ve worked to help Virginians better understand each other by exploring our history, culture, and traditions.
By doing this work with integrity and inclusivity, Virginia Humanities has become one of the most important sources for understanding Virginia and its people.
Learn more about us and our vision for the future of Virginia. And please join us by exploring some of the programs listed below.

Books & Literature
Working across the Commonwealth to unite communities of readers, writers, artists, and book lovers through year-round programs and partnership initiatives, our books and literature programs recognize the enduring power of literature, storytelling, and book arts to engage Virginians in public dialogue and promote intercultural understanding.

Education and Community Initiatives
Education and Community Initiatives serves as a coordinating office for projects and partnerships across the organization and works to strengthen Virginia Humanities’s relationships with educators and in communities across Virginia.

Encyclopedia Virginia
Encyclopedia Virginia’s mission is to provide a free, reliable, multimedia resource that tells the inclusive story of Virginia for students, teachers, and communities who seek to understand how the past informs the present and the future.

Virginia Folklife
The Virginia Folklife Program is dedicated to the documentation, presentation, and support of Virginia’s rich cultural heritage. Whether sung or told, hand-crafted or performed, Virginia’s rich Folklife refers to those “arts of everyday life” that reflect a sense of traditional knowledge and connection to community.

With Good Reason
With Good Reason brings together experts from Virginia’s higher education institutions for lively conversations that make scholarly research accessible to everyone. Each week, we share exciting discoveries, rigorous debates, and new knowledge, with ever-curious host Sarah McConnell guiding the conversation.
Grants & Fellowships
Since 1974, we’ve awarded more than 3,500 grants and 400 fellowships to support projects that help Virginians better understand their history, culture, and each other.

Undertaking the most challenging work in our history.
When what divides us may be easier to see than the values that unite us, our work brings people together and honors our shared Humanities.