Research Guides: Virginia Tech History Resources and University Archives: Home

About Special Collections

New Theatre (the Lyric) and Store Building for the Blacksburg Realty Company

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Contact us:
Email: specref@vt.edu
Telephone: 540-231-6308
Twitter: @VT_SCUA
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About the Virginia Tech History Resource and University Archives Guide

Welcome to the Special Collections guide to Virginia Tech History Resources and University Archives! This guide features tools and information to help you locate unpublished and published resources about the university from its founding in 1872 thru today. Materials in Special Collections include the following:

University Archives, comprising the official records created by administrators, offices, and student groups at the university;
publications and printed material, such as books, journals, newsletters, pamphlets, and posters;
audiovisual items like oral histories, campus maps, architectural drawings, and historic photographs of the campus, employees, and students; and
papers of alumni, staff, and faculty about their experiences and research.

This guide will also highlight related resources located in Newman Library and other places.

We'll be adding to this guide as new resources arrive, but we also encourage you to contact us with questions as your research or interests develop.

Special Collections and University Archives: A Basic Introduction
If you're new to primary sources, archives and special collections, or Virginia Tech Special Collections specifically, this guide includes a basic introduction to the materials we house, our mission, and our services. This guide will tell you about the different types of materials we collect as well as more in depth information on how to search/use different resources.

Major resource search locations

Below are the main places to look for materials held by Special Collections. The items on other pages are primarily pulled from these databases, which you can search on your own by keyword for departments, individuals, and subjects for more.

Guide to the University Archives
This guide includes the major overview of the University Archives' Record Groups. Record Groups are the official records of the university held by Special Collections. The records are divided into assigned Record Groups designated by the prefix, RG. For example, materials relating to the Board of Visitors are identified as RG 1/x, whereas the papers of the various presidents of the university are designated RG 2/x.
Virginia Heritage
Virginia Heritage is a consolidated database of more than 12,000 finding aids which provide information about the vast array of manuscripts and archival materials housed in historical societies, libraries, museums, colleges and universities across the Commonwealth. The continuous addition of new and updated finding aids makes this a great tool for discovering primary source materials documenting the history, culture, and people of Virginia.
Addison, the library catalog
Addison is the Virginia Tech University Libraries' online catalog for publications and other material held by the University Libraries. Special Collections material, including books, pamphlets, audiovisual media, and some manuscript collections and archival records.