Collections : [Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University]

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)
560 Drillfield Dr.
Newman Library, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 26041-9001
Primary Collecting Areas:
Local/regional history (Blacksburg, Montgomery County, Southwest Virginia, and Appalachian South); the American Civil War; Science and technology history (incl. aerospace, aeronautics, engineering, and speculative fiction); History of women in architecture (incl. the International Archive of Women in Architecture); Culinary history (incl. Virginia and southern cookery, children’s cookbooks and nutrition, food production and technology, and cocktail history); University Archives
Description:
Special Collections is located in Carol M. Newman Library at Virginia Tech. Special Collections includes manuscript collections, rare books, and the University Archives, as well as state, local and historical maps and photographs. Our mission is to collect and preserve unique, historical materials and provide access to them in their original form.
Phone: (540) 231-6308
Start Over Repository Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Level Sub-group
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Records of the Virginia Cooperative Extension, 1862/1997

29.32 Cubic Feet 35 boxes
This collection contains the administrative records of the Virginia Cooperative Extension, including correspondence, reports, financial documents, slides, videos, and the records of Bob Swain and Edwin J. Jones. The collection also documents the VCE's role in Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, Virginia Association of Extension Secretaries, and their work within rural communities.
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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia Records, 1866/2004, bulk 1919/1969

148.3 Cubic Feet 109 boxes, 1 folder
The Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia Records consist of the Diocese's administrative records, including incoming (often from parishioners) and outgoing correspondence, with a scattering of newspaper clippings, photographs, building plans and surveys, pamphlets, and meeting minutes, from the central administrative office in Roanoke and the churches within the Diocese.
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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Roy Jay Holden Papers, 1904/1945

6 Cubic Feet 6 boxes
The Roy Jay Holden Papers include field notes, charts and maps, and geological surveys and research results, covering the history of mineralogy and geology, especially in Virginia, including work at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) Engineering Experiment Station. In addition to detailed materials on iron ores in Virginia, especially west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, there are reports on mines and furnaces in twenty-five counties of the state. The collection also contains Holden's notebooks, copies of addresses and speeches he made, and records from the VPI Geology Department, where Holden (1870-1945) taught from 1905 until his death.
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A-C Box 1

  • Anderson, William A.
  • Appalachian Geology
  • Augusta Mill & Merchantile Co.
  • Blacksburg, Town of
  • Bockee, John J.
  • Bomb (to test the stability of natural silicates in iron furnaces)
  • Brown, J. Wilcox
  • Calcite & Aragmite Experiements
  • Campbell, M. R.
  • Caves
  • Cement
  • Cement--thesis
  • Charts & Maps
  • Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co.
  • Cline, W. S.
  • Clippings (newspaper) re: cement, lime mortar
  • Curd, William C.
  • Curve (results of carbonation of limestone)

  1. Series III: General Files

Addresses & Radio Talks Box 4

  • Africa
  • "Aladdin Was a Piker"
  • "Algonkian Formations in the Blue Ridge of Virginia"
  • "Animals of the Past"
  • "Appalachian Alluvial Diamonds"
  • Aurora Borealis
  • Automobile Touring--1930, 1936, 1937
  • Canadian Northland, Tales of, 1938
  • "Touring in Ontario" (Canada)
  • Coal: "Origin of Coal"
  • Coal: Coal Map of Virginia, Discussion of, for Virginia Planning Board
  • Coal: "A Visit to a Coal Mine," 1931
  • Coal: Underground trip--Pocahontas Fuel Co.
  • Commencement address, 1945: "To Think or Not to Think"
  • Colorado River, The
  • Columbia Lavas, The, 1930
  • "Conservation of Natural Resources," 1932
  • "Dust" (Atmospheric), 1933
  • "Earth, Looking into the," 1930
  • Earth, Tales of the
  • Fenstreams
  • First Families of America
  • F.F.V.
  • Geology Recitations, 1933: What is geology? (Ja. 12): Piedmont Section of Virginia; (Mar. 9): General questions about geology; (May 11): "How do mountains grow?" etc.; (June 8): Geology trip.
  • Gas Well, Virginia's First (4 pp.), 1932
  • Gems
  • Genesis vs. Geology
  • Glacier National Park, 1930
  • Gold, 1935, 1938
  • Helictites in Virginia
  • Imperial Valley, The (Southern California) (3 pp.)
  • Iron in Virginia, Mining & Manufacturing of (4 pp.), 1931, 1944
  • Iron Gate Gap (4 pp.), 1932
  • Inorganic Resources of Virginia, Utilization of, in Chemical Manufacture (Arsenopyrite; Portland & Natural Cements; Lime; Gypsum; Salt; Sulphuric Acid; Manganese; Ceramic Materials; Nitrate; Copper; Lead & Zinc) (5 pp.)
  • Magmatic Carbonation - Carbothermal Metamorphism
  • Metallic Resources of Virginia
  • Natural Bridge National Forest, 1931
  • National Resources, Conservation of, 1932
  • Narrows, The (3 pp.), 1931
  • New River ("Our Oldest River"), 1931
  • Non-Ferrous Metals in Virginia, 1931
  • "Origin of Life"
  • Petroleum in Virginia, 1930
  • Phi Kappa Phi, Talk before, 1936
  • Piedmont, Virginia, Geology of (8 pp.), 1933
  • "Plant Life Though the Ages" (8 pp.)
  • Prehistory (13 pp.), "Measuring Prehistoric Time," 1937
  • 'Punch Jones' Sparkler
  • Rocky Mountains, The
  • "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi" (7 pp.), 1943, Phi Kappa Phi
  • Stamp Collection, The Hobby of, 1936
  • Starch Manufacture in Virginia, 1931
  • Underground trip--see Coal (above)
  • Water (& chlorine)
  • Water Power, Virginia (4 pp.), 1932
  • Water, Yellow Sulphur Spring, Origin of the Sulphate
  • Miscellaneous

  1. Series I: Professional Papers

Counties Box 2

  • Alleghany
  • Augusta
  • Bath & Bedford
  • Botetourt
  • Bland
  • Buchanan & Dickerson
  • Clarke
  • Craig
  • Frederick
  • Giles
  • Highland
  • Lee
  • Montgomery
  • Page
  • Pulaski
  • Roanoke
  • Rockbridge
  • Rockingham
  • Russell
  • Scott
  • Shennandoah (& Warren)
  • Smyth
  • Tazewell
  • Washington
  • Wise
  • Wythe

  1. Series III: General Files
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Charles Goodsell Collection, 1982/2001

6 Cubic Feet 24 boxes
This collection includes photographs and negatives of public buildings--mostly within the United States--produced by Charles Goodsell for use in two of his books, The Social Meaning of Civic Space: Studying Political Authority through Architecture and The American Statehouse. Also includes published copies of the books.
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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Leonard J. Currie Papers, 1920/2001

10 Cubic Feet 14 boxes; 30 oversize folders--processed materials ONLY
Please note: this collection is currently being processed. Portions of the collection which are fully processed are listed in this finding aid. This includes photographs and negatives, flat files and oversize drawings from personal and professional projects, and a few artifacts. As more materials are processed, additional series and subseries will be published. Other portions of the collection may be available for research--contact Special Collections (specref@vt.edu) for more information.
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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Bailey-Law Collection, 1825/1971

15.0 Cubic Feet 36 boxes
This collection contains the papers of ornithologists John Eugene Law and Harold H. Bailey, including notes on bird species, habitat, and behavior; correspondence; field journals; printed materials; photographs and other images. Among Bailey's papers are files relating to his books, The Birds of Virginia and The Birds of Florida, as well as his operation of the Rockbridge Alum Springs Biological Laboratory. Also includes biographical files on hundreds of other naturalists and ornithologists, including such materials as correspondence, writings, photographs, field notes, and biographical sketches.
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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Black Women at Virginia Tech Oral History Project Records, 1967/2000, bulk 1994/2000

0.8 Cubic Feet 4 boxes
The Black Women at Virginia Tech Oral History Project was a multi-phase research and educational collaborative program of the Virginia Tech University Libraries and the Women's Center at Virginia Tech. The collection includes audiocassette tapes, DAT tapes, floppy disks, background and biographical information, and transcripts of interviews with some of the first Black female students and employees at Virginia Tech. The interviews focus on the entry experience of the individual into the Virginia Tech community and the interviewees' perceptions of the climate and attitudes within the university community, particularly as pertains to race and gender.
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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Audrey Emmons Architectural Collection, 1974/1997

1.5 Cubic Feet 3 boxes, 1 oversize folder
The Audrey Emmons Architectural Collection consists of architectural drawings, photographs and slides, and job files of designs Emmons did in San Francisco, Sausalito, and other Northern California locations from the mid-1970s until 1996.
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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Charles Willis Cassell Family Papers, 1883/1950

4.2 Cubic Feet 11 boxes
This collection consists of the papers of a Wythe County, Virginia, Lutheran minister, farmer and businessman and his family. It includes Cassell's personal, professional, and business correspondence; the personal correspondence of his wife and children; financial and legal records; diaries; notes on catechetics; and scrapbooks containing historical sketches of various Lutheran Churches, obituaries, family-related social events, and newspaper clippings concerning Cassell's services as pastor.
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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Baldwin Family Letters, 1861/1897

0.1 Cubic Feet 1 folder
This collection contains the letters of the Baldwin family of Tazewell County, Virginia. The collection consists largely of American Civil War-era letters of Captain Denison B. Baldwin, an officer in the 51st Virginia Infantry Regiment and the 23rd Virginia Infantry Battalion, to his wife Sallie Barnes Baldwin.
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