Alexandria Historical Society-Alexandria, VA

“We will now take a view of the Vampire. As there was a free entrance to the vampire in the loft where I slept, I had many a fine opportunity of paying attention to this nocturnal surgeon.” -Alexandria Gazette, May 6, 1826 Robert Eggers' “Nosferatu” is winning critical praise and strong returns at the box office, but it’s not the first time that stories of vampires have caught the attention of Alexandrians. In 1826, an article in The Alexandria Gazette entitled “The Vampire” described the author’s encounter with not one, not two, but many “vampires” during a trip to South America. But before anyone rushes to the store to buy garlic, we should clarify that the author’s “vampires” were just regular bats. How do we know? Well, for one, the author describes the creatures as only measuring 26 inches from wing to wing, and he also describes them eating fruit, hardly the typical profile of a vampire. Decades later, in 1903, the Alexandria Library put an advertisement in the local papers to share that they had purchased a copy of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” to add to their collection. Stoker’s popular novel prompted new interest in vampire stories and inspired the 1922 silent film “Nosferatu” (Stoker’s estate wasn’t happy about the film and sued the filmmakers). On a completely unrelated note, the Alexandria Historical Society is excited to announce that we have a new board member, a gentleman by the name of Vlad Orlok. We’re excited to have him on the team, although we’ve found that spending a lot of time with him can be a little draining. Orlok’s likes include real estate investments, historic preservation (he used to own a castle!), pet rats, and moonlight rendezvous. His dislikes include village gossip, tardiness, and the sun. Credit: Wikimedia/Library of Congress

What does an exhibit, a book, a walking tour, a social media campaign, a StoryMap, a report, a preservation effort, a thesis, an archive, and an interpretive sign all have in common? They’re all projects that make a person or organization eligible for the Alexandria History Awards! Each year, countless people work to research, preserve, and share Alexandria’s history. Nominating someone for an award is a great chance to recognize their achievements and hard work. From now until February 1st, anyone can submit nominations to recognize the best of public history in Alexandria. Know someone who has gone above and beyond in supporting history in the Port City? Nominate them for the award! Any individual or organization involved in researching, preserving, or interpreting Alexandria or Northern Virginia history is eligible. Honorees will receive their award at a ceremony and reception to be held at the Lyceum in April 2025. Please email nominations to AlexandriaHistoricalSociety@gmail.com by February 1, 2025. Each nomination should have a short (between 100 to 500 words) description of the nominee. If the nominee has produced any work products that the awards committee should consider, they can be submitted alongside the nomination if desired. Questions may be addressed to Awards Committee Chair Mark Ludlow at AlexandriaHistoricalSociety@gmail.com. Credit: National Archives

How it started and how it's going. Happy New Year from the Alexandria Historical Society! We had a great time commemorating Alexandria’s 275th birthday and our 50th anniversary in 2024, and we’re not slowing down in 2025. Stay tuned for new events, new experiences, new issues of The Alexandria Chronicle, new posts on our social media channels, and, coming later this year, a brand-new way to explore the Port City’s past. Plus, there are some other historic anniversaries to commemorate (we hear our friends at the Alexandria Archaeological Commission are celebrating a pretty big milestone this year). Thank you to everyone who supported us in 2024 by attending an event, purchasing a membership, donating, utilizing our online resources, contributing articles to the Alexandria Chronicle, or presenting at one of our events. Your support is essential to the work we do. Here’s to 2025! Credit: Library of Congress/Scott Vierick

2024 was Alexandria's 275 birthday and the Alexandria Historical Society's 50th anniversary. As this year comes to a close, now is a great chance to reflect on both the Port City's past and what its future should be. One of our board members pulled together some of the Alexandria Historical Society's social media posts into an article (link in comments). These posts are not a comprehensive history of Alexandria, but provide glimpses into various events and people that shaped the city. While some of these stories are light-hearted, others deal with serious and sometimes painful topics. Stories were selected based on the engagement they received on our social media channels or how they resonated with the board and our members. We're looking forward to researching and sharing more stories in the new year. Purchasing a membership or following us on social media (or both) are great ways to stay up to date on AHS events and announcements. Image credits: Library of Congress, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, WMATA, Office of Historic Alexandria

2024 isn’t over yet, but we’re already preparing for 2025. In January, we’re hosting two virtual history events. On January 15 at 7 pm, join Francesco De Salvatore, Manager of the Alexandria Oral History Center (a division of the Office of Historic Alexandria), and Scott Vierick, a former oral historian at History Associates Inc. and current AHS board member, for a discussion about Alexandria’s oral history program. This session will explore the extensive historical materials housed at the Alexandria Oral History Center and provide insights into conducting oral history projects. Whether you're interested in documenting your family’s stories, gathering community histories, or learning more about Alexandria’s diverse past, this presentation will offer valuable guidance and inspiration. On January 22 at 7 pm, join David Alff, historian and author of “The Northeast Corridor: The Trains, The History, The People, The History,” for his talk “How the Northeast Became an Acela Corridor.” He will discuss the intertwined infrastructure, culture, and transportation history of the area and share some insights into the future of passenger rail in both the Northeast Corridor and Virginia. Whether you’re a frequent Amtrak or VRE rider or simply enjoy watching the trains pass through Alexandria, this talk offers a great chance to learn more about the past, present, and future of passenger rail in the region. Both events are free, but registration is required. To register for one or both of these events, please email alexandriahistoricalsociety@gmail.com. Credit: Office of Historic Alexandria/Library of Congress

“The old people have been vying with the younger ones in noise-making, and the entire day has been replete with every conceivable noise that is possible to be made with horns, powder, crackers, whistles, and cannon.” -The Washington Post, December 26, 1891 ‘Twas the night of Christmas, and all through the house, everyone was partying, including the mouse! Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah from the Alexandria Historical Society! Christmas in 1891 Alexandria was one heck of a party. That year, Alexandrians went all out to celebrate the holiday. Reports discussed people taking to the streets “giving themselves up to enjoyment of every sort.” The noisemaking was the 19th-century version of rocking around the Christmas tree, with a lighthearted competition between generations over who could be louder. While the papers did note that “several small accidents have occurred from the careless use of powder,” all injuries were minor. (We couldn’t find any public domain images of the celebrations, so please enjoy this photo of the Market Square Christmas Tree). “Said the night wind to the little lamb, ‘Do you see what I see?’” Believe it or not, the Christmas celebrations occurred even though half of the city was without power. The Washington Post reported, “For three nights past, the entire portion of the city north of King Street has been enveloped in darkness, the electric works being unable to furnish light.” The blackout made Christmas shopping a bit challenging, but Alexandrians didn’t let it stop them from celebrating and making merry. The papers also reported that two Alexandrians suffering from grip (Bornholm’s Disease), G.B. and James F. Carlin, were now feeling better and had participated in the festivities. Was their recovery merely the disease running its course, or was it a Christmas miracle? We’ll leave that up to our social media followers to decide. On behalf of the Alexandria Historical Society, we hope you all have a wonderful holiday. May it be spent with good friends and loved ones and not involve any power outages.

Need a gift for the history lover in your life? How about an Alexandria Historical Society membership? Members get free admission to our History Talks, discounted admission to our History Behind-the-Scenes events, early access to new issues of our journal, “The Alexandria Chronicle,” and a subscription to our History Newsletter. Memberships allow AHS to bring in new speakers, fund local history projects through our grant program, and honor the best of public history through our Alexandria History Awards. Memberships start at just $20. To join, please visit our website (link in comments). Credit: National Archives and Records Administration

“We have top men working on it right now.” “Who?” “Top…men.” -Raiders of the Lost Ark Recognize this location? No, it’s not where the government decided to store the Ark of the Covenant (at least, not to our knowledge). It’s the former Federal Records Center in Alexandria, which was housed in the Torpedo Factory complex. With the end of World War II, the government decided to stop using the site as a manufacturing plant. Instead, it was converted into a warehouse space to store records. Anyone who’s ever done research at the National Archives knows that the federal government creates a lot of records. This is a boon for researchers, but managing and storing all these archival materials can be a challenge. That’s where Federal Record Centers (FRCs) come in. As part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), FRCs house records from various government agencies to keep them safe from damage and make sure that they are available for use by federal employees. Some materials are eventually transferred to National Archives facilities and made accessible to the public, while others are disposed of after a certain amount of time. Today, FRCs protect over 27 million cubic feet of records. So what was held at the Alexandria Federal Records Center? Fans of the Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, might be interested to hear that part of the Smithsonian’s dinosaur fossil collection resided at the site for a time. Some congressional records were also housed here. But the most well-known collection was the materials related to Nazi war crimes in World War II. These materials were used by the prosecution during the Nuremberg Trials and remain valuable sources for historians researching World War II and the Third Reich. Today, the closest Federal Records Center is in Suitland, Maryland, across the Potomac River. The City of Alexandria purchased the Torpedo Factory and reopened it as the Torpedo Factory Art Center in 1974. Today, we know the site for its art studios and the Alexandria Archeology Museum, but pictures like this remind us of the area’s long and varied history. Credit: National Archives and Records Administration

To celebrate our 50th anniversary, the Alexandria Historical Society awarded a combined $10,000 in grants to various projects to preserve, research, and share local history. We're excited that we get to play a role in supporting these projects. Congratulations to our winners! -The Out and About in Old Town project: To support efforts to research and share Alexandria’s LGBTQ+ history. - Alexandria Elks Lodge #48: To support an archival project to protect and preserve the lodge’s historic records. -History Revealed, Inc.: To support the indexing of recently transcribed late 18th-century ledgers and other documents of a local Alexandria business. -Madeline Feierstein: To support the research, writing, and publication of “Confine & Fortify: The Military Government of Civil War Alexandria,” about military-civilian coexistence and conflict in Alexandria during the Civil War. -Office of Historic Alexandria: To support an internship facilitating the creation of biographies for 100 people buried at Douglass Cemetery and transcriptions of related oral histories. -Martial Music in Washington City 1791–1828: To support research and performances of historic music connected to the early years of the District of Columbia. To learn more about each winning project, check out the Golden Grants page on our website (link in comments).

Dashing to Old Town/ on a Metro train today/ along the tracks we go/ laughing all the way/ bells on smartphones ring / as passengers alight / what fun it is to ride and sing on a Metro train tonight. On December 17, 1983, Alexandria received an early Christmas present when the Braddock Road, King Street, Eisenhower Avenue, and Huntington stations opened to the public. These new stations, part of an expansion of the Yellow Line, officially connected Alexandria (and the Alexandria section of Fairfax County) to the Metrorail system. Other Alexandria stations followed. The Van Dorn Station on the Blue Line opened in 1991, while the Potomac Yard Station opened last year. “Metro Extension Opens with Flourish,” the Washington Post declared as the trains began traveling north and south through the Port City. Extending Metro to Alexandria was not without controversy, but when it came time to open the new stations, the city rolled out the welcome mat (pictured). At King Street Station, a bagpiper played and cannons fired to mark the occasion. Around 12,000 passengers utilized the new stations to hop on a Metro train that day. While Metro (like any transportation system) has experienced challenges over the years, today it is hard to imagine Alexandria without it. The Metro system has become a part of our city’s history and is used by many locals and out-of-town visitors to travel around and see the area's many historic sites. Want to learn more about Metro’s history? Head over to our YouTube page to view Dr. Zachary M. Schrag’s lecture “Thinking Big: Lessons from the Washington Metro.” Credit: WMATA