University Archives Collecting Policy: Home

A division of the Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA), the University Archives collects, preserves, and provides access to materials documenting the history and development of the university and its various components.

Example materials in the University Archives include

• Official records of the university president and Board of Visitors;
• Publications, papers, and born digital materials from departments, offices, and centers of the university;
• Theses and dissertations;
• Historical photographs and campus maps; and
• Vertical files containing ephemera and newspaper clippings.

See the University Archives website for more information.

Donating or transferring materials to the University Archives: 

• Please ensure the materials you wish to donate or transfer to the University Archives fall within the scope of our collecting areas (see below for our collecting areas and materials we typically accept).
• Please coordinate with the the University Archivist or a faculty/staff member in SCUA before donating or transferring materials to the University Archives. 
• If you are an employee of Virginia Tech and would like to transfer your office, division, department, or college's inactive records (that are not your own papers), please fill out the Records Transfer Form (pdf) or Records Transfer Form (docx), and email a copy to the University Archivist (contact information at right). 
• If you are a student, alum, faculty, staff, or other interested party wanting to donate materials related to Virginia Tech, please contact the University Archivist (contact information at right).
• If you wish to donate materials not associated with Virginia Tech but in another collecting area of SCUA, please contact specref@vt.edu.
• To assist with the donation/transfer process, please provide an inventory or list of materials, including the number of boxes and contents (including digital files).
• After coordinating with the University Archivist or another SCUA faculty/staff member, donors will need to sign either a Deed of Gift or Records Transfer Form to formally transfer ownership and responsibility of the materials to SCUA. More information about these forms and SCUA's gifts, donations, and transfers policies is available here. 

Bugles (Virginia Tech yearbooks):

Digital copies of the Bugles are available online here. 

SCUA holds numerous copies of most years of the Bugles, and at this time, SCUA is only accepting donations of the following years:

• 1975 and 1979; 
• 1980; 
• 1990 and 1994;
• 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009;
• 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019;
• and 2020, 2021, and 2022.

If you would like to donate one of the specified years of Bugles above or have any questions, please contact the University archivist (contact information at right).

The University Archives collects, preserves, and provides access to inactive records relating to the university's history, function, and activities. 

Records of Interest: 

• Annual reports (institutional, departmental)
• Correspondence and memoranda
• Publications (produced by the unit, including newsletters, brochures, handbooks, and catalogs)
• Maps and blueprints
• Membership rosters
• Meeting minutes and agenda
• Organizational charts
• Planning documents
• Policy and procedures manuals
• Biographical material (for example, biobibliographies and curriculum vitae)
• By-laws
• Photographs (preferably with identified subjects and not in frames)
• Scrapbooks
• Sound and video recordings

If you are a current employee of Virginia Tech and are interested in transferring these types of materials to the University Archives, please fill out the Records Transfer Form (pdf) or Records Transfer Form (docx), and email a copy to the University Archivist, who will follow-up about your request. Please wait to hear from the the University Archivist prior to transferring materials to the University Archives. 

If you are a current, former, or retired faculty or staff member of Virginia Tech interested in donating your own papers to the University Archives, please review the list of materials we collect below and reach out to the University Archivist prior to sending materials.

Click here to see collections of Faculty and Staff currently in SCUA. 

Materials of Interest: 

• Autobiographical materials
  •  Examples: CVs and resumes, bibliographies, interviews, photographs, newspaper clippings, and journals 
• Course materials
  • Examples: Syllabi, course outlines, lecture notes, handouts, blank exams and assignments, and reading lists
• Scholarship and research materials
  • Examples: Research notes and data, conference notes, reports, presentations, and other records related to a person's contribution to their respective field
• Administrative documents
  • Records relating to service and/or contribution to the Virginia Tech community
  • Examples: Meeting minutes, agendas, reports, correspondence, and planning documents
• Publications 
  • We accept publications considered rare or unique. We may not accept duplicates of publications already in SCUA or that are widely available.

Out of Scope (materials we cannot accept):

• Personal faculty, staff, and student information, such as records that contain grades, student ID numbers or usernames, and SSNs
• Financial records, including travel expenses or reimbursements 
• Personal legal documents
• Medical records
• Non-Virginia Tech related university records

The University Archives accepts materials from Virginia Tech student groups/organizations and students, alumni, and their families. Student and alumni papers are essential to document the unique perspectives of student life, so SCUA collects unique materials created and collected during their time at Virginia Tech or their engagement with the university after leaving or graduating. Additionally, SCUA collects materials from alumni who have made significant contributions to their respective professional fields. Below is a list of materials we collect. Please see above for information about donating Bugles. 

Materials of Interest: 

• Records of student organizations
  • Examples: Meeting minutes, founding documents, reports, newspaper clippings, brochures, flyers, tickets, programs, scrapbooks, and photographs
• Documentation of student experiences 
  • Examples: Photographs, scrapbooks, memorabilia, journals, flyers, pamphlets, correspondence, oral histories, posters, syllabi, final projects (including theses and dissertations), and course materials
• Materials related to alumni involvement with Virginia Tech 
  • Examples: Reunion materials, photographs, scrapbooks, committee meeting records, event schedules, and programs
• Personal papers related to professional career 
  • Examples: Project files, technical or architectural drawings, awards and certificates (excluding plaques and diplomas), correspondence, CVs and resumes, research material, and photographs

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