Before Richmond had the Science Museum of Virginia, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, the Children’s Museum of Richmond, or even the Nature Center at Maymont, the Valentine hosted a wide-ranging program that provided science, history, art, cultural, and natural history education to local children.
Founded in 1969, the Junior Center was conceived, funded, and staffed by Richmond’s Junior League, a nonprofit organization of women volunteers. The Junior League assisted various projects and organizations around town, mainly those dedicated to helping children and families. At the Valentine, their creativity and enthusiasm produced a program so popular that 1,800 children signed up for membership in the first year. Young members enjoyed free admission to an array of classes, exhibits, lectures, tours, and fields trips – all of which were designed to supplement school curriculum.
Summer workshops in drama, painting, drawing, indigenous life, rocketry, oceanography, ecology, astronomy, and dance were popular. Interactive exhibits, like Moon Odyssey, taught children about gravity. Other displays included a working beehive under glass, living history tableaus in the Wickham House, a world ancestry tree, and a sandbox for digging up artifacts.
Members could also have birthday parties on-site, which included access to educational materials. Membership dues were one dollar per year. Every May, a birthday party for the program was held for sign-ups and renewals. Richmond Public Schools operated a free weekly bus from Chimborazo Elementary to the Valentine to encourage participation in summer fairs and classes. But sometimes, a bus was not enough for the popularity of the offerings. When Arthur Ashe hosted a tennis clinic for families at the museum, nearly 700 people – kids and their adults – showed up.
