Mapping Alexandria: Stories of a Changing City
Exhibition now open
Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum
201 S. Washington Street
Plan your visit
We are all made up of stories
Block by block, stories reside in the people and places that have shaped Alexandria’s neighborhoods and communities from Old Town to the West End. Since the 1980s, staff and volunteers in the Office of Historic Alexandria have listened to, learned from, and recorded the stories that members of our community have shared in more than 450 oral history interviews. This exhibit, which marks the 275th anniversary of the City’s founding, explores the evolution and history of Alexandria through the words of its residents. Their reflections and experiences show that oral history is a valuable means of documenting and preserving local history.
What is your story?
Through this exhibit at the Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum, we invite you to be part of this process by sharing your own memories of Alexandria. Record your story in the exhibit, or contact the Alexandria Oral History Center at OralHistoryCenter@alexandriava.gov or 703.946.2687.
If you are interested in being interviewed, please complete the online survey. One of our staff oral historians will reach out to you to schedule an appointment and explain our process.
What is Oral History?
Photograph by Mary Bramley, 2024.
Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving, and interpreting memories and reflections of living people about their past experiences. An oral history consists of a recorded interview between an interviewer and a narrator. The interview is then preserved in an archive, so that future generations can access these stories. Oral histories are important for historians because they can help explain what happened in the past, and reveal how an individual experienced and felt about a historical moment. Narrators collaborate with interviewers on historical interpretation and preservation. Oral history offers everyone an invitation to the table of history-making.
Stories of a Changing City
1: Introduction
This exhibit, which marks the 275th anniversary of the City’s founding, explores the evolution and history of Alexandria through the words of its residents.
