Help Our Cause

LHFM’s Jenkins Collection of American Indian Artifacts comprises approximately 300 objects including projectile points, stone tools, pottery sherds, and small decorative items. The collection represents human habitation of the local Potomac watershed from approximately 3000 BCE – 1700 CE. By about 900 CE local communities were growing corn, beans, and squash, all of which originated in tropical climates and were traded, shared, and spread northwards by American Indians living all over the continent. Therefore, this collection is evidence of mankind’s first development of agriculture in the county. LHFM and the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area want to make sure that every Loudoun student and resident has an opportunity to learn about indigenous peoples in Loudoun and how they interacted with the landscape.

Support this Project: Your funds help us

• Photograph and digitize the collection, creating equitable access for all users 
• Expand LHFM’s permanent American Indian exhibition, Loudoun’s First Farmers: Indigenous Food Ways and Land Use Along the Potomac, with interpretation about the changing nature of food ways and land use over time during indigenous occupation
• Create a traveling exhibition to be displayed throughout Loudoun County and surrounding areas 
• Create two (2) classroom trunks including hand-knapped and 3D printed examples of original collections items