Research Guides: Virginia Tech History Resources: Facilities, Campus, &amp; Buildings

Researching the Virginia Tech Facilities, Campus, & Buildings

Collections

Record groups may include posters, flyers, photos, organizational records, and more. Materials are divided into assigned Record Groups based on the organization or group and designated by the prefix, RG. For example, materials relating to the university Facilities division, campus, and buildings are primarily identified in RG 6/2/x and RG 6/3/x. Related material may be found in specific academic or administrative units, such as Newman Library building information in RG 23b/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.
Historical Photograph Collection
The photograph collection at Special Collections and University Archives consists primarily of historical photographs of Virginia Tech, dating back to the 1890s. The collection is also home to historic images of Blacksburg, Montgomery County, the New River Valley, and Southwest Virginia in general. A photograph collection of faculty and staff from the university is maintained separately.
Virginia Tech Buildings Architectural Collection, RG 6/3/2e
Collection consists of architectural drawings, blueprints, and floorplans of selected campus buildings located on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA.
Records of War Memorial Chapel, RG 6/3/9
The Records of War Memorial Chapel contain architectural records, posters, photographs, and prints pertaining to Virginia Tech's War Memorial Chapel - including the Memorial Court, pylons, and cenotaph - and its construction in the 1950s and early 1960s. There are also a few pamphlets detailing the dedication and commemoration of the chapel, as well as records from the chapel after it was opened.
Records of the Virginia Tech University Libraries, RG 23
This collection includes minutes, correspondence, meeting notes, and more from departments, committees, and individuals in the Virginia Tech University Libraries. This collections includes a section about the renovations and additions of Newman Library as well as the dean's records, which include documentation of the building.
Smithey & Boynton, Architects & Engineers Records, Ms1992-027
The collection contains project files and drawings related to more than 1,500 residences, churches, businesses, schools and colleges including Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and community buildings, predominantly in the Roanoke and Southwest Virginia area, designed by Smithey & Boynton, mostly between 1935 and 1957.

Smithfield & Solitude Resources

Smithfield in Blacksburg is the historic home of the Preston family, one of the founding families of Blacksburg and Montgomery County, Virginia. It was built by William Preston (1729-1783) in 1774, and he named it in honor of his wife Susanna Smith. Solitude was built around 1801, either by Philip Barger, Jr. or James Patton Preston (1774-1843), William and Sarah's son and Governor of Virginia (1816-1819). James's uncle Granville Smith named it Solitude around 1808. James's son Robert Taylor Preston (1809-1880) was born at Smithfield, and he inherited and expanded Solitude in the 1850s. He sold his property to the university in 1872, living there until his death.

Upwards of 250 African and African American people, including the McNorton, Saunders, and Fraction families, were enslaved at Smithfield, and many of them were later enslaved at Solitude. In 2019, Virginia Tech renamed the surviving outbuilding The Fraction Family House at Solitude in honor of the most numerous of the families and in honor of the contributions made by all the enslaved people forced to work on these plantations. The building is believed to have been a dwelling for enslaved people built around 1843.

Elizabeth Fine Papers, Ms2015-041
The Elizabeth Fine Papers include papers and materials collected by Fine during her tenure as a professor at Virginia Tech. Fine taught in the Department of Religion and Culture from 1979 until her retirement in 2015. The collection includes research and subject files on aspects of Appalachian culture and history; papers from her instruction, departmental, and administrative activities; and files on historic buildings on campus, particularly the history, renovation, and reopening of "Solitude."
Solitude Photographs and Papers, Ms1993-024
Historic home of Blacksburg, Virginia, built by the Preston family in the early 1800s. Purchased by the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Virginia Tech) in 1872, and remains the oldest building on campus. Photographs consist of thirty-four mounted photographs from Eleanor Stover McEver's collection of various views and details of Solitude, with identifying labels. Also includes other papers, such as newspaper clippings and postcards, with information about Solitude.
Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, Montgomery County Branch Papers, Ms1962-001
The records largely document the recent history of Smithfield Plantation, ancestral home of the Preston family, focusing particularly on its restoration beginning in 1962. While much of the renovation occurred in the 1960s, many of the records detail other renovation projects done in the 1970s and 1980s. The collection also includes historical and other related documents dating from before the original Preston family's residence at Smithfield.
Smithfield Plantation House Architectural Drawings, Ms2011-053
Smithfield Plantation is the historic home of the Preston family, one of the founding families of Blacksburg and Montgomery County, Virginia. In November 1958 the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) authorized the organization of the Montgomery County branch for the specific purpose of acquiring and restoring Smithfield Plantation. Restoration of the building was begun in 1962 when the APVA's Montgomery County Branch raised the funds for renovation and contracted with architects and contractors. The APVA is now known as Preservation Virginia. The drawings include of five sheets of elevations and floorplans of the Smithfield Plantation House in Blacksburg, VA. Drawings are attributed to architects H.A. Elarth, AIA and C.S. Worley Jr., AIA of Blacksburg, VA.
Anna Whitehead Kenney Papers, Ms1991-022
The Anna Whitehead Kenney Papers contains a collection of biographical information about local families compiled by Kenney during her time as a curator at Smithfield Plantation.
William Preston Land Grant, Ms1994-027
Surveyor and militiaman. Born in Ireland, came to the American colonies in 1738. Settled in area of Virginia that is now Montgomery County. Established the plantation Smithfield in 1773, which is now near the Virginia Tech campus and run by the Montgomery County branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Land grant is for 2175 acres in Botetourt County, Virginia (now the land that is Smithfield), purchased by Preston, signed by British King George III and Virginia colonial Governor John Murray Dunmore.
Publications related to Smithfield in the University Libraries
Includes newsletters, reports and studies, and histories.
Publications related to Solitude in the University Archives
Includes reports and histories about Solitude.

More than a Fraction : based on a true story by Moseley-Hobbs, Kerri
Call Number: PS3613.O7788 M67 2017

Publication Date: 2017

Dr. Kerri Moseley-Hobbs is a descendent of Thomas Fraction, a Union soldier and one of the formerly enslaved people at Solitude, now on Virginia Tech campus. This book is a fictionalized account of Thomas Fraction and his brother Othello's lives before and after the end of slavery.
Facing freedom : an African American community in Virginia from Reconstruction to Jim Crow by Thorp, Daniel B.
Call Number: F232.M7 T47 2017

Publication Date: 2017

This history relates the complex experience of an African American community in southern Appalachia, including Montgomery County, Va., in the four decades following the Civil War. Not necessarily related to Virginia Tech but may help to understand the context of the experience of the Black community in Blacksburg.

Online Exhibits & Histories

"Physical Plant" page on the Virginia Tech History website
This site discusses the history of the university campus, including campus buildings, features, off-campus facilities, and maps.
Solitude
This exhibit includes archaeological investigations, reports, and photos of Solitude, the oldest structure at Virginia Tech.

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Starting as a humble log cabin in 1801, Solitude grew to become the home of two Virginia governors, and the home of Robert Preston, who sold the property in 1872 to provide land for the new Virginia land grant college, Virginia Agriculture and Mechanical College, later to be known as Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

It is Virginia Tech's oldest structure, the "homeplace" of the University. Because of its rich historical and architectural heritage, Solitude was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and named a Virginia Historic Landmark in 1989.

When restored, Solitude will become an Appalachian Center, the focal point for study and celebration of Virginia's mountain region.
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.)
Virginia Tech Governance Minutes Archives (Archived)
This exhibit is a list of minutes of university administrative groups, some of which were digitized and maintained by Special Collections and University Archives and some were maintained by the group itself. (Some of the links may be broken as this is archived on Archive-It.org and dates to 2013.)

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Groups include Board of Visitors; University Council; Commissions on Faculty Affairs, on Graduate Studies, on Research, on Staff Policies and Affairs, on Student Affairs, and on Undergraduate Studies; CALS Council; Building, Commencement, Computer, Scheduling & Registration, Transportation & Parking, University Communications Network, and University Libraries Committees; Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action; Faculty Senate; and Staff Senate.

Additional Resources

Virginia Tech Buildings
Official website about current buildings on Virginia Tech's campus, includes pictures, uses, namesakes, and histories