The Valentine is a museum in Richmond, Virginia dedicated to collecting, preserving and interpreting Richmond's history. Founded by Mann S. Valentine II 1898, it was the first museum in Richmond. In the early 21st century, The Valentine offers rotating exhibitions, walking tours, programs, special events, research opportunities and more as a way to engage, educate and challenge a diverse audience. The Valentine also includes the Wickham House, a National Historical Landmark. History Meat juice fortune and beginnings The funds for the museum were provided by Mann S. Valentine II, who made his fortune with Valentine's Meat Juice, a health tonic made from beef juice invented as early as 1870. Mann and his sons earned their fortune from the Valentine Meat Juice Company. During the late 19th century, the Valentines began to collect in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, fine arts and decorative arts. His sons conducted excavations of Native American earthwork mounds in former Cherokee towns in western North Carolina in their hunt for artifacts. They did considerable damage to the mounds. Mann laid the foundation for the museum in 1892. When he died in 1893, he provided the original bequest for the Valentine Museum, leaving his collection of art and artifacts, the 1812 John Wickham House and a $50,000 endowment to the City of Richmond to establish the museum. Their collection of art and artifacts was the foundation of the exhibitions when the Valentine Museum opened in 1898. At the time, the Valentine Museum became the first private museum in the City of Richmond. Mann S. Valentine II's brother Edward Virginius Valentine also had an interest in history and was a well-known sculptor. Edward Valentine served as the museum's first president from 1898 to his death in 1930. According to the museum website, Edward Valentine left a large collection of sculpture, papers, furniture and memorabilia to the museum in his will. The Valentine acquired a collection of Richmond photographs from George S. Cook and Huestis Pratt Cook, when they were found in the attic of the home of the latter's widow. Evolution of Richmond's oldest museum In 1924, the museum asked Charleston Museum director Laura Bragg to consult on a reorganization, which got under way four years later. It was the museum's first major renovation and expansion. As part of the project, the museum purchased three rowhouses adjacent to the Wickham House for the purposes of holding artifacts. The