Introducing our Newsmaker of the Year: Sandra G. Treadway

By Julie Campbell

The year was 1978. Sandra G. Treadway walked into the Virginia State Library and Archives, on Capitol Square in Richmond. She was fresh out of the University of Virginia, history Ph.D. in hand, reporting for duty as a copyeditor.

“The academic job market was extremely tight at the time,” Treadway told Broadside: The Magazine of the Library of Virginia. “So instead, I looked for an interesting nonacademic history-related position that would keep me gainfully employed until the job market eased.”

Fortunately for the institution (now called the Library of Virginia), she found that gainful employment to be fruitful and long-lasting. After a 45-year career during which she helped the library move into new headquarters, reach new and underserved audiences, and embrace the complexity and breadth of the commonwealth’s history, Treadway retired in January as the Librarian of Virginia.

In recognition of her outstanding service and impressive career, VPC will honor Treadway as 2024 Newsmaker of the Year at our Spring Conference on Saturday, April 20, which appropriately will be held at the Library of Virginia in downtown Richmond.

After her 1978 arrival in Richmond, Treadway, who hails from Dumont, N.J., rose through the publications ranks, becoming the director of that area, then stepped into the post of deputy state librarian for 11 years. She took the helm as Librarian of Virginia in 2007, the ninth person (and second woman) to hold that position since it was established in 1903. Before that, the Virginia secretary of the commonwealth often managed the library, which was founded in 1823. Treadway’s final year on the job dovetailed with the 200th anniversary of the place she has served so long and so well.

“During her tenure,” wrote the institution in the announcement of her retirement, “the library achieved significant growth in the digitization and accessibility of its records, opening new windows to the past for diverse audiences through projects like Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative and Making History with LVA, a volunteer transcription program. The library also expanded onsite public programming to draw new audiences to its facility and strengthened outreach to communities statewide with the launch of its mobile van, LVA On the Go, in 2023.”

The library houses the most comprehensive collection of materials on Virginia government, history, and culture available anywhere.

Treadway has guided the institution through difficult times such as state-mandated budget and personnel cuts and the pandemic. But there have been celebrations, too, such as the beloved Library of Virginia Literary Awards (emceed by honorary VPC member Adriana Trigiani) and groundbreaking exhibitions like “To Be Sold: Virginia and the American Slave Trade,” which she found “the most sobering and powerful.”

She also told Broadside, “I am proud that the library is one of the most trusted agencies within state government.”

Treadway is a prolific communicator to boot, having written and edited many publications about Virginia history and women’s history. Among her many works, she wrote “Women of Mark: A History of the Woman’s Club of Richmond, Virginia, 1894–1994” and is the founding editor of the multivolume “Dictionary of Virginia Biography.”

In 2017, when she was named an honoree in the Richmond Times-Dispatch Person of the Year program, Treadway mused, “I would love to find out what it would be like to have complete control over my time and the freedom to choose how to make the most of every day.”

For Sandy Treadway, that time has come. We are eager to see what’s next for our 2024 Newsmaker of the Year.

Editor’s note: NFPW President Julie Campbell is grateful to our Newsmaker for hiring and bringing her to Virginia 30 years ago.