The collection is open for research.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Records of the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History, RG 38/1, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The collection was transferred to Special Collections and University Archives in 2019.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Records of the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History was completed in October 2019.
The Virginia Museum of Natural History is, as its title suggests, the official state natural history museum, founded in 1984 and located in Martinsville, Virginia. A branch of the museum, the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History opened in April 1990 on the Blacksburg campus of Virginia Tech, in connection with Earth Week. In July 1991, it absorbed the Virginia Tech Center for Systematic Collections, which was influential in bringing the branch to fruition, and combined the many natural history collections throughout campus. Directors included Llyn Sharp, Susan C. Eriksson, and founding director Michael Kosztarab. The branch closed in 2004.
This collection conains the records of the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History. Scrapbooks include newspaper articles, pictures, and flyers all related to the museum and its activities and exhibits. The collection also includes many pictures, slides, brochures, posters, and even a book related to the museum and the people involved.
This collection is made up of nine series:
Series I: Scrapbooks includes files transferred from scrapbook binders that were kept to preserve records from the museum, namely newspaper articles and pictures. The binders went from the year 1990 to around 2003. It also includes Save Our Streams scrapbooks (which include newspaper articles, informational flyers, and photos about saving the streams of the New River Valley) from another program within the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History. The program began in 1992.
Series II: MINTS is further divided into three sub-series: MINTS Scrapbooks, Workshop Notebook, and MINTS VHS tapes. "MINTS" stands for "Museum Inquiry-based Natural history guides for TeacherS." More information on all of the sub-series can be found in the series' notes.
Series III: Prints and Slides are a collection of various pictures and slides that have been removed from binders. This series contains 5 separate sub-series: People and Events Slides and Prints, School Photos, Exhibit Prints, MISC Prints and Slides, and Slide Tray. More information on all of the sub-series can be found in the series' notes.
Series IV: Publications and Brochures contains some extra information from the museum that details instructions on how it should be run, extra booklets, and a book. There's a training manual binder, as well as an instructional notebook that details information about the Education Resource Center and what in the museum is open to the public to look at. There's a visitor register, which is just made up of sign-in pages for visitors to the museum from 1997 to 2003. There's also a booklet from 1990 about childhood nature education, a brochure from 1991 about the Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy, and a booklet from 1992 about "mapping the school grounds." Lastly, there's a book titled Transylvanian Roots; The True Life Adventures of a Hungarian American by Michael Kosztarab, which was published in 1997. The book is about his "two escapes from the Soviets, the smuggling of his seven-month-old daughter out of Communist Hungary, his incarceration by the Nazis for helping the Jews in 1944, and his welcome to the United States as not just a refugee but as a scholar/scientist."
Series V: Programs has information about all of the programs and activities in the museum from about 1990 to 1996. It's divided into several sub-series because they were already pre-divided and there was no reason to change their organization. More information on all of the sub-series can be found in the series' notes.
Series VI: Posters is an oversized box that contains a VMNH "Explore Natural History" poster, a print of the museum building at Virginia Tech, a MINTS book poster, and another smaller poster of a picture from one of the museum exhibits.
The publication entitled "Model inquiries into nature in the schoolyard" has been separated to the Rare Books Collection.
The guide to the Records of the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your- work/public-domain/cc0/).
Sub-Series I: MINTS Scrapbooks and Notebook includes files similar to the VTMNH scrapbooks, except these are particular to the MINTS program, which is more about teaching natural history than showing it in exhibits. The scrapbooks go from about 1990 to 1999. The Workshop Notebook is a binder that wasn't transferred into a folder because of how carefully it's already organized. It's made for teachers who are taking potential students through a classic MINTS workshop. This binder was put together in 1994.
Sub-Series II: MINTS VHS Tapes are 6 VHS tapes that have footage from these MINTS workshops in action. These workshops took place on three different days in May, 1994.
Sub-Series I: People and Events Slides and Prints: This contains pictures from various people and events involved within the VTMNH, like the grand opening, Bat Day, the Bluebird Festival, and other events like parades and awards. These are from the years of around 1989 to 2002.
Sub-Series II: School Photos includes photos from Montgomery County, Floyd County, and Pulaski County. They're mostly nature shots of the areas around the schools, taken in February and March of 1993.
Sub-Series III: Exhibit Prints includes prints from various exhibits, which has some pictures from exhibits like "Gifts to our Grandchildren," the Butterfly Garden, and the opening of the Diversity Endangered Exhibit (1990). These prints where taken in the decade of 1990-2000.
Sub-Series IV: MISC Prints and Slides just contains some various other prints and slides, including graphic and title slides, various research activity pictures, contact sheets, and blow-up prints. The years for this one are pretty sporadic, starting around 1984 and ending in 1997.
Sub-Series V: Slide Tray is a physical slide tray from the year 1994. It's labeled as "An Introduction to VTMNH," and also includes a description of what's on each slide.
Sub-Series I: VTMNH Programs – Bat Day includes information about Bat Day for 1991 and 1992, as well as other information on some other activities, like "Decorating a Tree for Wildlife."
Sub-Series II: Geography Awareness + John Cain Week only includes one folder of the same name, which has information about John Cain Week in 1993, which was November 15-21.
Sub-Series III: VTMNH Programs Archive 1991-1992 contains information and activities from the years 1991-1992, including the Mushroom Foray, the Allosaurus Birthday Party, and Hawkwatch.
Sub-Series IV: Program Archive 1993 is similar to the previous sub-series; it includes information on the programs of that year, like the Endangered Species Program and Native American Day.
Sub-Series V: Program Archive 1994 is nearly identical to the last two, but for the 1994 year. Some of the folders included in here are more information about the Endangered Species Program and records of a Benefit Concert.
Sub-Series VI: Bluebird Festival is only made up of two folders—one with a "Doctor is In" sign, and the other containing information about the Bluebird Festival, which has a lot of information about bluebirds themselves, as well as information and feedback on the festival, which was on 3/26/1994.
Sub-Series VII: 1995 Programs has information like the rest of the program sub-series, with folders containing programs and events like the 5th year anniversary of the museum, Wildflower Printing, the Recycling Program, Caring for Your Own Collections, and more.
Sub-Series VIII: NH Elderhostel details an "elderhostel" program, which is a program dedicated to providing adults with learning adventures. These were, of course, in relation to the museum.