Exhibitions
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's vast collections comprise more than 70,000 examples of fine, decorative, mechanical and folk art. Included are exceptional examples of American and British ceramics, glass, furniture, textiles, costumes, tools, firearms, numismatics, metals, toys, prints, maps, paintings, drawings and architectural fragments from the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries, as well as American folk art up to the present day. Many of these objects are shown in innovative, changing exhibitions at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. Others are used to furnish more than 200 rooms in Williamsburg's historic buildings, where they provide guests with a better understanding of life in early Virginia.
Now on View
Fiber, Fabric, and Fortune
On view in the Len and Cyndy Alaimo Gallery
In the 18th century, textiles were the single largest import to the American colonies. Prior to the American Revolution, colonists received these goods funneled through England, but names such as calico, holland, and osnaburg reminded purchasers that their fabric came from diverse locations. This exhibition explores the variety of raw materials processed into clothing and textiles in the 18th and early 19th centuries and the global network that supplied them.
Current Exhibitions
Colonial Williamsburg: The First 100 Years
A Gift to the Nation: The Joseph and June Hennage Collection
A Rich and Varied Culture: The Material World of the Early South
American Folk Pottery: Art and Tradition
American Ship Paintings
America’s Folk Art
Art of the Quilter
Artists on the Move: Portraits for a New Nation
British Masterworks: Ninety Years of Collecting at Colonial Williamsburg
Celebrity in Print
China of the Most Fashionable Sort: Chinese Export Porcelain in Colonial America
Conserving the Carolina Room
Declarations of Independence
Down on the Farm
Early American Faces
Eddie Arning: Artist
Elegance, Taste, and Style: The Mary D. Doering Fashion Collection
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“Every Article… suitable for this Country”: Furnishing Early Williamsburg
Fiber, Fabric, and Fortune: The Global Textile Trade 1740-1840
From Forge and Furnace: A Celebration of Early American Iron
German Toys in America
“I made this…”: The Work of Black American Artists and Artisans
Introduction to the Art Museums
Keeping Time: Tall Case Clocks
Making Music in Early America
Rebuilding Charlton’s Coffeehouse
Restoring Williamsburg
Richard Newsham’s Fire Engine
Sidewalks to Rooftops: Outdoor Folk Art
Silver from Modest to Majestic
The Art of Edward Hicks
To Arm Against An Enemy: Weapons of the Revolutionary War
Upholstery CSI: Reading the Evidence
We The People: American Folk Portraits
Worlds Collide: Archaeology and Global Trade in 18th-century Williamsburg
