Created and maintained by Thomas Costa of the History Department at the University of Virginia's College at Wise, the Virginia Runaways Project is a digital database of runaway and captured slave advertisements from eighteenth-century Virginia newspapers. The database builds significantly on the pioneering work on runaway slave ads published by Algerna Windley in 1984. Browseable by year or searchable by keyword with multiple modifiers, the database features the full transcripts and images of runaway and captured slave ads placed in Virginia newspapers from 1736 to 1790. At present, the database only includes white servants who were somehow associated with runaway African-Americans, but eventually "a complete dataset of runaway and captive servant advertisements for Virginia will be included, offering a unique look at the lower orders in eighteenth-century Virginia." A brief bibliography, list of newspapers surveyed, and a reference section (under construction) are also provided. While certainly interesting to general users, the database also has potential for use in a variety of high school and university courses.