Research Guides: Virginia Tech History Resources: College of Architecture, Arts, and Design

Researching the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design (AAD)

Here are several resources related to the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design (AAD) (formerly College of Architecture and Urban Studies, CAUS), its programs, its schools, and its departments, as well related individuals.

General resources

Record groups may include posters, flyers, photos, organizational records, and more. Materials are divided into assigned Record Groups based on the office, division, or unit and designated by the prefix, RG. For example, materials relating to the AAD are identified as RG 14/x.

Record Groups in the University Archives
This list includes the major overview of the University Archives' Record Groups. Record Groups are the official records of the university held by Special Collections and University Archives. This includes official records, newspaper clippings, and printed material. There are two versions, a spreadsheet for sorting and filtering and a document that includes a page per RG number.
Record Group Vertical Files
The Record Group Vertical Files contain newspaper clippings, pamphlets, brochures, posters, flyers, and more related to departments, schools, colleges, and administrative offices in the university, including press releases, courses, buildings, public events, and more.
Directory of Administrators and New Faculty, Ms2005-004
The collection was originally housed in and apparently used by the Office of the President, while James D. McComas was president of Virginia Tech from 1988-1993. Collection consists of one-page vitas and photographs of administrators and new faculty in 1988 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, representing the Pamplin College of Business, the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Architecture and Urban Studies, Arts and Sciences, Education, Engineering, and Human Resources. It also includes the Cooperative Extension and Continuing Education and numerous Vice President offices.

About AAD

Courses in architecture were listed in the college catalog as early as 1873. Courses were offered in the Architectural Engineering Department from 1928 through 1947, when the name changed to the Architecture Department. In 1955, the School of Engineering and Architecture was established. It became the College of Architecture in 1964, then the College of Architecture and Urban Studies in 1976. In July 2022, CAUS became the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design (AAD).

Online histories and exhibits

"Instruction, Degrees, and Commencements" on the Virginia Tech History website
This website contains a thorough history of several facets of the university's history, including information on the colleges and schools, deans, degrees awarded, commencement speakers, and more.
125th Anniversary of Virginia Tech (Archived)
This exhibit was created as part of the university's 125th anniversary in 1997. There are articles, a timeline, and photographs documenting the university's early history, students and alumni, administration, Corps of Cadets, and campus, including maps, buildings, and aerial views. SCUA is currently converting legacy exhibits like this to an updated exhibit. (Some links may be broken as this website is archived on Archive-It.org and primarily dates to 1997, but includes events thru 2014.)

AAD Collections

AAD Collections

Here are several SCUA collections related to the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design. This is not a comprehensive list of all our related collections. To find more, please search within our collections on Archival Resources of the Virginias.

Charles Burchard Collection, Ms1991-048
The Charles Burchard Collection includes personal and professional correspondence, architectural drawings from private practice work, publications, subject files, administrative papers relating to Burchard's teaching at Harvard's Graduate School of Design (1946-1953), as a senior partner at A.M. Kinney and Associates in Cincinnati, Ohio (1953-1963), and from his tenure as dean of the College of Architecture at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (later Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). Materials in this collection span Burchard's education and career, dating from between about 1935 and 1989.
Milka T. Bliznakov Papers and Architectural Drawings, Ms1991-025
Milka Bliznakov was a Bulgarian architect, architectural historian, and professor at Virginia Tech who practiced in Bulgaria, France, and the United States. The collection consists of her publications, research, correspondence, professional documentation of her practice, conference participation materials, teaching materials, and documents related to her involvement as the founder of the International Archive of Women in Architecture.
Herschel Gustave Anderson Elarth Papers, Ms1984-182
Papers of Herschel G. A. Elarth, professor of architecture, including correspondence, subject files, class materials, photographs, printed materials, artwork, scrapbooks, and ephemera chronicling Elarth's personal life, teaching and military careers, private practice, and participation in various architectural organizations.
George Grigg and John Carnochan Papers, Ms2017-006
This collection includes documents related to the production and dissemination of George Grigg's and John Carnochan's computer-animated film, produced while students at Virginia Tech's College of Architecture from 1969 through 1970 using FORTRAN.
Walter Gropius/G. Preston Frazer Papers, Ms1992-052
The collection contains correspondence (from Mrs. Walter Gropius to G. Preston Frazer), as well as photographs, newsclippings, and publications about Gropius. Walter Gropius (1883-1969) was a renowned German-American architect; director of the Bauhaus from 1919 to 1928 and Chair of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design from 1938 to 1952. G. (George) Preston Frazer was professor of art at Virginia Tech from 1939 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1974.
G. Preston Frazer Artwork, Ms1992-055
Artist and former professor of architecture at Virginia Tech. Collection consists of twenty-two sketches and drawings done by Frazer of nudes and scenes of Blacksburg, Virginia, and the southwest Virginia region. G. (George) Preston Frazer was professor of art at Virginia Tech from 1939 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1974.
G. Preston Frazer Collection, Ms2009-098
The collection contains correspondence between G. Preston Frazer and Marcus L. Oliver. Additional materials include photocopies of newspaper articles, a signed Sixteen Pencil Impressions from Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. booklet, and Frazer's obituary. G. (George) Preston Frazer was professor of art at Virginia Tech from 1939 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1974.

AAD Publications

AAD publications on VTechWorks
College of Architecture publications in the library catalog
Includes College of Architecture, CAUS, and AAD.