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EDHE 6064: Higher Education in the United States: Digital/Online Resources
Locating Digital or Online Resources
The main repository of digital/online content from Special Collections and University Archives is Special Collections and University Archives Online. While this site does not include everything we have digitized, it does contain a good deal of content. Specific collections related to the history of higher eduction are listed below. In addition to this content, we have material that has been digitized in preparation for the university's upcoming sesquicentennial that is not yet online. If you have difficulty locating material about a specific subject, contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) for assistance.
Digital Collections at Virginia Tech
- AliceAn underground progressive newspaper published by The Blacksburg Free Press between 1968 and 1970. The articles were written mainly by Virginia Tech students and members of the Blacksburg community. Issues were printed on roughly a bi-weekly basis.
- April 16, 2007, Condolence Archives (VTechWorks)In the days and weeks following the events of April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech received thousands of cards and letters of support, posters, banners, art, poetry, wreaths, memory books, and other unique items from around the world. In the summer of 2007 representative artifacts were digitally photographed to share with the world. This is the online collection of those photographs.
- Black History at Virginia Tech timelinesDeveloped by former University Archivist, Tamara Kennelly, these timelines use materials from the University Archives to relate the history of Black people at Virginia Tech. There are timelines for pre-1950s and ever decade from the 1950s through the 2010s.
- Bugles (Virginia Tech yearbooks)A collection of digitized copies of the Bugle, Virginia Tech's yearbook, from 1895 through 1989.
- History of Women at Virginia TechDeveloped in conjunction with the Women's Center at Virginia Tech, this timeline uses materials from Special Collections and University Archives collections to explore the history of women's experiences at Virginia Tech.
- Hokies@Home: Documenting COVID-19 at Virginia TechThis collection is under development. The project is gathering official university communications about the university's response and submissions from the Virginia Tech community about their experiences during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
- Indigenous History at Virginia TechThis exhibit explores significant events surrounding the history of the Indigenous community at Virginia Tech and the surrounding areas. This project is a work-in-progress. Information on Virginian tribes and Indigenous Peoples at Virginia Tech is being received, updated, and revised continually.
- Minority Newsletter and Diversity News (LD5655 .A76831)This collection includes digitized copies of Virginia Tech's Minority Newsletter/Diversity News, a campus newsletter mainly focused on issues of concern to the Virginia Tech Black community. The collection includes issues from 1981 through 2002.
- Timeline of LGBTQ+ History at Virginia TechDeveloped in association with the VT LGBTQ+ Oral History Project, this timeline explores the history of LGBTQ+ experience at Virginia Tech from the 1970s through 2019.
- The Tin Horn (Virginia Tech's Women's yearbook)Early women students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) were not allowed to be in The Bugle yearbook. For several years after they were first admitted, they produced their own yearbook, called The Tin Horn. Four issues of the The Tin Horn were published. The 1925 and 1929 issues were produced by hand. Issues in 1930 and 1931 were published by professional printers.
- University Administration and Governance (VTechWorks)This collection includes publications from Virginia Tech offices and administrators. VTechWorks, Virginia Tech's open access institutional repository, publicizes and preserves the scholarly work of Virginia Tech faculty, students, and staff: journal articles, books, theses, dissertations, conference papers, slide presentations, technical reports, working papers, administrative documents, videos, images, datasets, and more.
- Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives OnlineOur platform for digital photographs, documents, and oral histories.
About Special Collections and University Archives
Hours
Special Collections and University Archives is currently open Monday-Friday from 8am to 5pm.
Appointments are not required, but strongly encouraged (**see below)
Appointments can be made by visiting the SCUA Seat Reservation page (instructions are included on this page)
Virtual reference help remains available at specref@vt.edu or by phone at 540-231-6308
**By making an appointment, you will help us limit the number of researchers using our Reading Room at any one time for health and safety; guarantee you a seat at the requested time; and help us plan for your visit, for example, making sure the materials needed are on site and available.
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Email: specref@vt.edu
Phone: 540-231-6308
Twitter: @VT_SCUA
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Land Acknowledgement
Virginia Tech acknowledges that we live and work on the Tutelo / Monacan People’s homeland, and we recognize their continued relationships with their lands and waterways. We further acknowledge that the Morrill Land-Grant College Act (1862) enabled the commonwealth of Virginia to finance and found Virginia Tech through the forced removal of Native Nations from their lands in western territories. We understand that honoring Native Peoples without explicit material commitments falls short of our institutional responsibilities. Through sustained, transparent, and meaningful engagement with the Tutelo / Monacan Peoples, and other Native Nations, we commit to changing the trajectory of Virginia Tech's history by increasing Indigenous student, staff, and faculty recruitment and retention, diversifying course offerings, and meeting the growing needs of all Virginia tribes and supporting their sovereignty.
Labor Recognition
Virginia Tech acknowledges that its Blacksburg campus sits partly on land that was previously the site of the Smithfield and Solitude Plantations, owned by members of the Preston family. Between the 1770s and the 1860s, the Prestons and other local White families that owned parcels of what became Virginia Tech also owned hundreds of enslaved people. We acknowledge that enslaved Black people generated wealth that financed the predecessor institution to Virginia Tech, the Preston and Olin Institute, and they also worked on construction of its building. Not until 1953, however, was the first Black student permitted to enroll. Through InclusiveVT, the institutional and individual commitment to Ut Prosim (that I may serve) in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence, we commit to advancing a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community.
Full and short versions of the acknowledgements can be found on InclusiveVT's website.
This guide was adapted with permission from a course LibGuide originally created by Kira Dietz.