Doug Burford has always been a dreamer. The local ad man’s latest flight of fancy is a plan to promote Richmond as the nation’s most historic city. He knows it’s an audacious claim that is sure to be challenged by other burgs, from Boston to Philly. But that’s OK; the point is to start a dialogue that “will create millions of dollars’ worth of free publicity.“

For many of us, the history of the Great Depression is just that—a past learned through history books and passed down through family stories.  But now, at the Valentine Richmond History Center, people have the chance to see firsthand what Richmond was like during the 1930s.

The Valentine Richmond History Center will open a new exhibit Thursday examining Richmond’s efforts to overcome the Great Depression. It opens the same day as the 1929 stock-market crash that ushered in the Depression. The opening reception is from 6 to 8 p.m. at the museum at 1015 E. Clay St. in downtown Richmond. The exhibition “Waste Not Want Not: Richmond’s Great Depression, 1929-1940” tells the story of Richmond during this time with objects, images and costumes from the museum’s collection.

Theirs is a generation marked by frugality. It was a time when a single man could live on $40 a month—bread cost a nickel, a suit could be had for about $25 and a streetcar ride cost 7 cents. It was a time before TVs, air conditioning, iPods and computers.

Historians not only study, interpret, and describe the past. The great ones make history. Thucydides, Herodotus, Gibbon, Macaulay, Guizot, and their peers belong in the annals as surely as do the events, persons, and trends they recorded. Kenneth Stampp joins the elect. He specialized in the era of the Civil War—its preceding decades and its aftermath. His scholarship changed the way Americans understood their national story and themselves. The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South is his masterpiece. Even those who have not read it have been affected by its arguments.

Former Gov. George Allen, whose administration played the essential role in establishing the SOLs, wrote a letter in support of the history test to Mark Emblidge, president of the Virginia Board of Education. While the third-grade history test appears safe, at least for the moment, we decided to publish Allen’s June 19 letter, with his permission, because it is such an eloquent reminder of both the value of SOLs and the importance of teaching history to even—perhaps especially—the youngest Virginians.

PETERSBURG Kelly Waldrop could barely contain her excitement as she walked through historic Blandford Cemetery yesterday morning. The second-year teacher at Mechanicsville Elementary School in Hanover County was playing the role of student as she excitedly made rubbings of headstones in the old graveyard. Waldrop is among 14 central Virginia teachers immersing themselves in central Virginia history during a Community Teachers Institute seminar aimed at revealing historical resources available in the Tri-Cities to supplement students’ education with hands-on, Standards of Learning-based experiences.

Juneteenth was marked with music, storytelling and a torch-lit walk on Richmond’s slave trail yesterday. The observance celebrates the end of slavery, and the theme of this year’s commemoration is “Walking in our Ancestors’ Footsteps.“ “Lest we forget, it’s important that we know our history,“ said Jovita Simons, who was selling gifts at the Ancarrow’s Landing area on the south side of the James River. “It does affect us. We have to know our history so we don’t repeat it.“

From the Democratic chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus to the Republican majority leader of the House of Delegates, there’s bipartisan bewilderment over a proposal to scrap the state’s Standards of Learning history test for third-graders. The alliance of lawmakers joins an already vocal opposition to the Virginia Department of Education’s proposal to scrap the test.

Virginia’s Standards of Learning for history and social science set national standards. The process leading to their adoption and implementation sparked contentious debate. Officials successfully managed the situation. The SOLs have become part of the fabric of education in Virginia. One purpose of the SOLs is to ensure that certain subject matter is taught. History occasionally falls victim to so-called hobby teaching, in which even the best of teachers stress their favorite topics at the expense of others. Thus, in a course on the Civil War and its aftermath, a devotee of Robert E. Lee might spend inordinate time on the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia, while slighting turning points in Tennessee and along the Mississippi. The practice is not nefarious; it just reflects human nature. The SOLs rose in part because of concerns that American students simply were not learning enough about the history and culture not only of their own country but of the world. Citizenship depends on shared knowledge.

William J. Martin walks around downtown Richmond all the time. In addition to conducting historical walking tours, he takes his own strolls regularly, noting the significance of the city’s historic sites from the sidewalks and alleys. So it’s no surprise that Martin is behind a 10K, history-centered walk set up by Sports Backers that will take place for the first time Saturday. The Anthem Stride Through Time has already drawn more than 1,000 participants.

Downtown Richmond is teeming with a history that can serve as a microcosm for America’s own past.  It’s a history that ranges from before the Revolutionary War to the roots of the civil-rights movement in Jackson Ward to the more recent slavery reconciliation.  It’s all there, as well as everything in between, in a 6.2-mile loop that during rush hour becomes easily unnoticed.

Lessons from the eve of the Civil War that still resonate today drew about 1,800 people to the University of Richmond yesterday for the inaugural event of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of The American Civil War Commission. The conference “helps us reckon with the hardest parts of American history,“ said UR President Edward L. Ayers. Virginia began its commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the war by focusing on the events of 1859 and bringing together scholars for what was “not the usual Civil War discussion,“ Ayers said.

Two historical markers denoting Virginia’s diverse history will be unveiled this week in the Richmond region. One marker at 20th and Main streets in Shockoe Bottom commemorates Richmond’s earliest Quakers and the meetinghouse they built around 1797. It is being dedicated today at 11:30 a.m. “It’s important to document all kinds of history,“ said Betsy Brinson, a historian for the Richmond Meeting of the Society of Friends.

Bold prediction No. 1: The recession is over. Not-quite-as-bold prediction No. 2: We won’t find out that the recession is over until early next year. In spite of all the mistakes the government has made, is making, and will make, one of the oldest economic aphorisms will prove once again to be accurate: Never fight the Fed. The Federal Reserve has been flooding the economy with cheap money for more than a year now. And the best predictor of future economic performance—the yield curve—is flashing bright green.