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Jamestown at 400: Natives and Newcomers in Early Virginia

July 24, 2007 – Jan. 14, 2008

Library, West Hall

Early Jamestown, Virginia, was the place where John Smith met Pocahontas, where the colonists discovered how to grow tobacco, and where the English allowed their colonists to practice self-government. To mark the 400th anniversary of the establishment of the English colony at Jamestown, the Huntington is presenting a special exhibition that explores the ways natives and newcomers adjusted to each other, and to how the English settlement came to play a central role in the history of colonial America and the founding of the United States. The show draws on The Huntington's unsurpassed collection of rare materials relating to early Virginia, including first editions of illustrated books which gave Europeans their most sustained information about American Indians in the 16th century. Among the illustrations to be displayed is a hand-colored version of John Smith's famous map of Virginia.

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Pocahontas	One of the few likenesses of Pocahontas, made in England in 1616 when she was about 21, shows her in European dress. The inscription gives her formal name, Matoaka, instead of her childhood nickname “Pocahontas.” She adopted the baptismal name of Rebecca after her conversion to Christianity. Pocahontas married tobacco plantation owner John Rolfe in 1614. She died in 1617 in England, where she is buried under the name Rebecca Rolfe. This portrait appeared in the 1626 edition of John Smith’s The Generall Historie of Virginia…. Huntington Library
Bill of adventure	A stock certificate, or “bill of adventure,” issued to Henry, Earl of Huntingdon in 1610 for the sum of 40 pounds. Investors were entitled to a share of the profits obtained during the voyages to Virginia, whether in “Golde, silver, and other mettals or treasure, Pearles, Precious stones, or any … commodities, or profits whatsoever.” The “treasure” that proved most profitable to shareholders was tobacco. Huntington Library
Commission	An official commission from the Virginia Company of London, dated Dec. 5, 1610, authorizing the recipient to act as an agent for the Company in seeking investors to finance future voyages to Jamestown. Shareholders received a portion of the voyages’ profits, usually derived from the sale of valuable cargoes of Virginia tobacco. Huntington Library
Map	An early map of Virginia, published in John Smith’s The Generall Historie of Virginia…. (first edition, 1624). The map is drawn as if the viewer were facing west, the way the New World might have been “seen” by Europeans. Huntington Library.
Natives Smoking	In an early woodcut, a native man (center) is shown smoking rolled tobacco leaves. The illustration appeared in Andre Thevet’s Les singvlaritez de la France Antarctiqve, avtrement nomée Amerique…(1557). Huntington Library
Inconveniences	A list of tools, victuals, apparel, weapons, household implements, and other provisions that settlers departing for Jamestown in 1622 were advised to take with them. For a total expenditure of £20, colonists could avoid “The incoveniencies that haue happened to some persons vvhich haue transported themselues from England to Virginia, vvithout prouisions necessary to sustaine themselues”. For many early settlers, those “inconveniences” included death. Among the priciest items on the list were a complete suit of light armour (17 shillings), eight bushels of meal (£2), and a very large quantity of assorted nails (£2). Huntington Library
Tobacco	A description of the tobacco plant was published in 1596 in the Historia medicinal...Ioyfull newes out of the new-found vvolde by Nicolas Monardes. A belief in the plant’s therapeutic properties, and the demand for it in Europe, influenced its cultivation by colonists as a lucrative commodity. Huntington Library