Virginia Tech History Resources: Home
About the Virginia Tech History Resource Guide and University History
Welcome to the Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) guide to Virginia Tech History Resources! This guide features tools and information to help you locate unpublished and published resources about the university from its founding in 1872 thru today.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 SCUA 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 SCUA, 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.
Related Research Guides
- Special Collections and University Archives: A Basic IntroductionIf you're new to primary sources, archives, and special collections, or Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives 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.
- Historically Marginalized Communities ResourcesThis guide includes resources for historically marginalized and underrepresented communities, such as Appalachian, LGBTQ+, Black/African American, and Asian and Asian American communities. Many resources relate to Virginia Tech history.
- Oral History @ VT: Oral History CollectionsThe Oral History Collections page on the Oral History @ VT research guide contains information about collections held by Special Collections and University Archives. Many of these collections relate to the history of Virginia Tech and individuals associated with the university and New River Valley.
Major Resource Search Locations
​Below are the main places to look for materials held by SCUA. 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.
- Record Groups in the University ArchivesThis 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.
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.
There are two versions, a spreadsheet for sorting and filtering and a document that includes a page per RG number. - Archival Resources of the VirginiasArchival Resources of the Virginias (formerly Virginia Heritage) is a consolidated database of finding aids that provides information about the vast array of manuscripts and archival materials housed in Virginia and West Virginia.
- Library catalogUse the search box on the Virginia Tech University Libraries homepage to search our online catalog for publications and other material held by the University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives material, including books, pamphlets, audiovisual media, and some manuscript collections and archival records.
- HathiTrust
This link opens in a new window
The HathiTrust Digital Library contains over seven million volumes and over one billion pages of scanned books and other materials. About 20 percent of all content is in the public domain (and accessible to you). You can also browse several public collections. Content is available in several image formats, text, and PDF. 1200s-present.
- Virginia Tech Web Archive on Archive-It.orgThe Virginia Tech official web presence plus selected project web sites created and administered by Virginia Tech faculty, students, and staff. Includes archived versions of the university website from 2015-present, with different subdomains of vt.edu organized and identified for viewing.
- VT.edu Website Archive on the Wayback Machine of the Internet ArchiveThis includes archived versions of the university website from 1997-present. It is not as organized as the archived website on Archive-It.org. However, you can also search for specific vt.edu web addresses in the toolbar at the top of the page.
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Virginia Tech's Land Acknowledgement & Labor Recognition
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.
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 version of the acknowledgement can be found on InclusiveVT's website.
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