Virginia Tech History Resources: Inclusion, Diversity, & Communities
This guide details resources intended to help those doing research on the history of Virginia Tech, including the use of Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, and related resources.
Researching Inclusion, Diversity, & Communities at Virginia Tech
The resources presented here represent many of the communities which have developed at Virginia Tech and related groups in the New River Valley. They also document efforts of some people and organizations to increase inclusion and diversity at the university as well as some efforts against this work.
Additional Research Guides
Some resources related to these communities and efforts are identified on the Individuals, Organizations, and Online Exhibits & Digital Materials pages. Information related to Solitude and Smithfield, including the formerly enslaved people such as the Fraction family, are on the Facilities, Campus, & Buildings page. Resources on the Administration subpages contain official records of administrators and offices that may document official decisions related to the development of these communities and inclusion and diversity efforts.
There are also other research guides that have useful resources related to this topic.
- 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.
- Special Collections and University Archives Resources for APS1704This guide is designed to help students in APS1704 locate resources in Special Collections and University Archives relating to Appalachia generally, as well as about specific topics. There are also links to collections and resources (analog and digital) available online and from other cultural heritage institutions.
Record Groups
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. Official student, staff, and faculty organizations, some of which include communities at Virginia Tech, are identified as RG 30/x and RG 31/x. Materials labeled RG 8/x include official university departments in Student Affairs, such as the Cultural and Community Centers (CCC) as RG 8/16, Black Greek Council as RG 8/2/6d, and issues concerning people of color, such as inclusion efforts, protests against bigotry, and incidents of racism, as RG 8/2/8c.
- 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. There are two versions, a spreadsheet for sorting and filtering and a document that includes a page per RG number.
- Record Group Vertical FilesThe 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.
- Records of the Appalachian Student Organizing Committee, RG 31/14/10The Appalachian Student Organizing Committee (or Appalachian Student Committee) was an approved student organization at the Virginia Tech in the early 1970s. The collection deals with various topics, including strip mining and land use issues, poverty, health care and free clinics, coal mining and coal miners, strikes, local political races, issues at Virginia Tech, the Vietnam War, and other national and international issues. Materials include correspondence, clippings files, small-press and local publications on Appalachian issues, petitions, and notes and drafts.
- Records of the Office of the Associate Provost, Patricia Hyer, RG 5/1/10AThis collection contains materials from Patricia Hyer's tenure as Associate Provost at Virginia Tech, covering such subjects as inclusion and diversity, women's issues, the AdvanceVT program, and strategic planning. The collection also includes some biographical information.
- Multicultural Academic Opportunities Program (MAOP), RG 5/18/1This collection comprises the records of the Multicultural Academic Opportunities Program (MAOP), dating 1993 through 2017. This includes printed emails, newspaper articles, publicity, and information about the organization's summer research internship. It mainly contains photographs of students participating in the summer research internship, most from the years 2001 through 2004.
- Records of HokiePRIDE, RG 31/14/15The HokiePRIDE records include materials from the HokiePRIDE student group including items from all of its named iterations: Lambda Horizions; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Alliance; and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Alliance, including officer papers, office records, event planning information, resource pamphlets and directories, and copies of budgetary requests and accounting records.
- Records of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), Virginia Tech Chapter, RG 30/5aThis collection consists of official records and periodicals from the AAUW, Virginia Tech Chapter and the National AAUW including minutes, administrative records, state and national convention programs, awards and scholarships, publications, and other materials concerning community outreach from 1926-2008.
- Records of the Office of Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action, RG 6/4/5The collection contains materials from Michele Holmes relating to Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EO/AA) at Virginia Tech from 1986 through 2006. It includes EO/AA minutes, affirmative action plans, proposals, grants, executive orders, and information on faculty recruitment, the Family Friendly Policy Task Force, and awards. It also contains materials relating to various events, including Black Alumni Reunions, and areas of concern as well as information regarding the work force and lists of black alumni.
- Records of the Office of the President, Walter S. Newman, RG 2/10The Records of the Office of the President, Walter S. Newman consists of correspondence, financial documents, enrollment statistics, architects' contracts, audits, commencement and inaugural ephemera, statements to the Federal Power Commission, photographs, and reports on Virginia's public school system submitted to the Moses Commission.
Correspondence with Virginia Attorney General Lindsay Almond and Director of Admissions Paul Farrier in the early 1950s documents the University's strategy in response to efforts to challenge segregation in Virginia's public schools and universities and the decision to admit Irving L. Peddrew III, the first Black student enrolled at Virginia Tech. Files labeled "Racial Relations" from 1951 and 1952 document Newman's attempts, which proved unsuccessful, to help the defense in Dorothy Davis v. County School Board, Prince Edward County by providing historical evidence of equality of resources within segregation. A file of correspondence from 1961 with Mary Fessler, President of the Blacksburg Branch of the American Association of University Women, records Newman's decision to bar the organization from meeting on campus after a Black woman joined. - Records of the Virginia Tech Black Organizations Council, RG 08/02/06eThis collection contains a variety of material documenting the Virginia Tech Black Organizations Council, including operational records, information about member organizations, and documentation of organizational events. It also includes some material about other campus organizations such as the Jewish Student Union, Student Budget Board, and Asian American Student Union.
- Records of the Virginia Tech Chapter of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS), RG 31/2/23This collection documents the VT student chapter of MANNRS. Materials include scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, rosters, meeting minutes, and general information about the organization.
- Records of the Virginia Tech Women's Network, RG 30/7This collection includes information from the Women's Network at Virginia Tech from about 1973-1991. It includes letters, meeting minutes, reports, and more related to the operation of the organization as well as materials from different task forces and causes the Women's Network was backing. The Virginia Tech Women's Network was founded in 1977 within the College of Education, as a branch of the Virginia Women's Network. The goal of the group was to provide support for the university's professional women as well as advocate for an equal voice for women in the university.
Manuscript Collections
Manuscript collections include faculty and staff papers, oral histories, the records of local community organizations, and more.
- Anti-Asian Panic and the Pandemic: A Virtual Teach-In Collection, Ms2020-003The Anti-Asian Panic and the Pandemic: A Virtual Teach-In Collection includes video, audio, and text files recorded by Zoom for the teach-in event. It also includes the event flyer, notes on Coronavirus discrimination in the news, and a follow-up reading list.
- Black Appalachians Oral History Project, Ms1991-019The Black Appalachians Oral History Project consists of approximately twenty-five taped interviews conducted by Dr. Michael Cooke of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University concerning black life in Appalachia, especially in Montgomery County, Virginia. The interviewees represented communities such as Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Elliston, Riner, Shawsville, and Wake Forest. Transcripts are currently available for six of the interviews.
- Black History Oral History Collection, Ms2003-011This collection includes oral history accounts from various African Americans with experience at Virginia Tech and/or in the Blacksburg area between the 1950s and the early 2000s.
- Blacksburg [Virginia] Odd Fellows Records, Ms1988-009This collection contains information regarding the Blacksburg Virginia lodge, formed in 1904, of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, a mutual relief society for people of color. It consists of financial records, correspondence, and more for the men's lodge and for the women's organization, the Household of Ruth. Some employees of Virginia Tech are listed among the membership.
- Black Women at Virginia Tech Oral History Project Records, Ms1995-026The Black Women at Virginia Tech Oral History Project was a multi-phase research and educational collaborative program of the University Libraries and the Women's Center at Virginia Tech. The collection includes cassette tapes, DAT tapes, and transcripts of interviews with some of the first Black women students at Virginia Tech. The interviews focus on the entry experience of the individual into the Virginia Tech community and the interviewees' perceptions of the climate and attitudes within the university community, particularly as pertains to race and gender.
- Christiansburg [Virginia] Industrial Institute Historical Documents, Ms1991-033The CII materials consist of photocopied historical documents about the school, its history, and the alumni association. Many of the materials are from the Edgar A. Long papers (Long served as principal of the school from 1905 to 1924), and include Long's handwritten drafts of lectures, writings, speeches, sermons, and lessons. Also included are copies of the 1902-03 and 1925-26 catalogs and the 1908 annual report. "Poems for Children and Letters," compiled by Nerissa Long Milton, "Married Life" compiled by Dora E.W. Spratt, and "Art Letters and Poetry of Audrey Long Whitlock", compiled by Amanda De Hart, are part of the alumni records. The bulk of the material was compiled under the title "Christiansburg Industrial Institute History and the Edgar A. Long Papers, 1866-1986" by Mrs. Amanda Edwin De Hart, archivist and historian for the CII alumni association.
- Gary Ann Giovanni Culinary Papers, Ms2006-011Papers of Gary Ann Giovanni, a chef, caterer and cooking teacher active in Blacksburg, Virginia. The collection contains records, menus, and recipes from her catering jobs, including at Virginia Tech functions, and from the cooking classes she taught for the local YMCA Open University. Also includes material related to the various community organizations for which Gary worked or volunteered, and some material associated with her sister, poet Nikki Giovanni.
- Jean Elliott Papers, Ms2016-014Papers of Jean Elliott, communication manager for the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences and its predecessor the College of Human Resources, include documents and correspondence relating to Jean Elliott's work within the LGBTQ community at Virginia Tech.
- Michael Two Horses Collection, Ms2006-001Michael Two Horses was a scholar, researcher, and activist. From the fall of 2003 until the time of his death in late December 2003, he was a visiting instructor in the American Indian Studies Program and the Humanities Program, within the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies. He was also a member of the Virginia Tech Commission on Equal Opportunity and Diversity. The collection contains a combination of academic papers, personal papers and research, drawings, correspondence, thesis and dissertation materials, and some artifacts from Two Horses' career as a student, scholar, and activist.
- Virginia Tech Faculty Women's Club Records, Ms1997-014This organization was founded in 1965 as a social group to promote fellowship among women associated with Virginia Tech. The club later became the Virginia Tech Women's Club to include a wider range of women at the university. The records include correspondence, financial records, officers' job descriptions, newsletters, information about scholarships, cookbook sales, nursery operations, as well as annual scrapbooks of activities illustrated with photographs and newspaper clippings.
- Virginia Tech LGBTQ Oral History Collection, Ms2015-007This collection consists of oral history interviews with influential members of the LGBTQ community at Virginia Tech, both past and present. Interviews were conducted by Tamara Kennelly, University Archivist, David Cline, Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Graduate Certificate in Public History, and students of Professor David Cline's Oral History class.
Publications
Publications include works available online from SCUA or VTechWorks or physically in the University Libraries.
- LGBTQ Collegiate Times ArticlesA collection of scanned articles from the Collegiate Times, the campus newspaper at Virginia Tech, documenting events and opinions related to the LGBTQ community.
- Diversity NewsSpecial Collections and University Archives hold most issues for the Diversity News, 1995-2002, about faculty, staff, students, alumni, groups, and initiatives related to diversity and inclusion. Previously, this periodical was published as the Minority Newsletter.
- Minority NewsletterSpecial Collections and University Archives hold most issues for the Minority Newsletter, 1981-1991, about faculty, staff, students, alumni, groups, and initiatives related to diversity and inclusion. Later, this periodical was published as the Diversity News.
- Minority Newsletter and Diversity News (pdfs online)Newsletter, 1981-2002, about faculty, staff, students, alumni, groups, and initiatives related to diversity and inclusion. Name changed from Minority Newsletter to Diversity News in the early 1990s. Special Collections and University Archives has an incomplete run, which are available online here.
- Publications for the Virginia Tech Faculty Women's ClubIncludes yearbooks and cookbooks from the VT Faculty Women's Club (now VT Women's Club)
- Publications from the American Association of University Women (AAUW)Includes newsletters and yearbooks
- Women's network newsCall Number: LD5655.A3 W66Publication Date: 1983-1989Issues held in Special Collections and University Archives
- More than a Fraction : based on a true story byCall Number: PS3613.O7788 M67 2017Publication Date: 2017Dr. 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 byCall Number: F232.M7 T47 2017Publication Date: 2017This 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.
- University Administration and Governance on VTechWorksIncludes publications and other works from the university administration, such as the Board of Visitors, Presidents, Vice Presidents, Office for Inclusion and Diversity (OID), etc.
Online Histories and Exhibits
- Black History at Virginia Tech digital collectionThis digital collection from SCUA Online documents the history of Black people and organizations at Virginia Tech. It contains digital versions of SCUA collection materials and is categorized by topic, including athletics, Black organizations, Board of Visitors, Events, Issues, People, and more. This material is also used as part of the Black History at VT Timeline.
- Black History at Virginia Tech
This exhibit explores significant events surrounding the history of the Black community at Virginia Tech and the surrounding areas from the 1770's to today. - Cultural Diversity at Virginia Tech (Archived)
This website explores multicultural diversity at Virginia Tech, including international students, oral history interviews, and Black history at Virginia Tech. Must of this exhibit is available on other updated exhibits, such as the Black History Timeline and First International Students at Virginia Tech exhibit. (Some links may be broken as this website is archived on Archive-It.org and dates to 2002.) - Denim Day: 40th Anniversary
This exhibit was created as part of the Denim Day 40th Anniversary commemorative events in 2019.
Denim Day 1979 was a statement. It announced to the university that gay and lesbian students existed at Virginia Tech. These pages feature the voices of alumni from that time recalling what Denim Day meant to them and what life was like for them at Virginia Tech in the late 1970s and early 1980s. - First Black Women at Virginia Tech (Archived)
The Black Women at Virginia Tech History Project is a multi-phase research and educational project that involves identification of the first black women students, staff, and faculty at Virginia Tech and the collection of their oral history narratives. The interviews focus on the entry experience and the interviewees' perceptions of the climate and attitudes within the university community particularly as pertains to race and gender. Another phase of the project involves the design and execution of program events to enhance communication within and beyond the university community. (See the Black History Timeline for more up-to-date and complete history. Also, some links may be broken as this website is archived on Archive-It.org and dates to 2011.) - First International Students at Virginia Tech
This exhibit identifies the first international students at Virginia Tech, organized by year and country. - History of Women at Virginia Tech
The History of Women at Virginia Tech digital timeline project is a collaborative effort to showcase women’s history at this university through archival documents, photographs, interviews, and more. The project team has worked since 2015 to conduct research, gather documents and artifacts, and collect oral histories. This digital exhibit is in progress and new content is being added all the time. This site is hosted by the University Libraries and represents a partnership between Special Collections and University Archives, the Women's Center, and individuals from the campus community. - Indigenous History at Virginia Tech
This website is an exploration of Indigenous history at Virginia Tech, including an incomplete timeline; photos from Monacan events, Columbus Day protest, and an American Indian Forum; and links to Virginia Tribal Nation websites and selected resources. Patrons are welcome to email SCUA with additions or corrections to the timeline. - LGBTQ History at Virginia Tech
Beginning in the fall of 2014, faculty and students in the Virginia Tech History Department, along with colleagues in the University Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives and campus partners including HokiePRIDE, the LGBT Faculty/Staff Caucus, and the Ex Lapide Society (the LGBTQ alumni network at VT) began collecting oral histories to document the history of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer life in the 20th century American South and specifically at Virginia Tech. In addition to collecting oral histories, the project aims to build an archival collection of materials such as correspondence, photographs, publications, reminiscences, and ephemera that will help document LGBTQ life at Virginia Tech and in the American South. - New Town: Across the Color Line
New Town, a predominantly African American community central to the history of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech and Montgomery County, advanced alongside Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) through the better part of a century. The community eventually dissolved as Virginia Tech developed into the sprawling university that it is today. Virginia Tech led redevelopment of the New Town area in the early 2000s and as a result, most traces of New Town are now lost to history. - Virginia Tech Governance Minutes Archives (Archived)This exhibit is a list of minutes of university administrative groups - including Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action, 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.)
- Women's History Month 2016
In honor of Women's History Month, Special Collections is hosting an online exhibit during March 2016. This exhibit includes materials from our collections which have been digitized and which highlight the contributions and significance of women in a variety of subject areas: local history, architecture, science and technology, Virginia Tech history, literature, and more!
Additional Resources
- Identities on the VT Student Affairs websiteInformation for students attending VT based on their identities, such as veterans, international or transfer students, gender, sexuality, culture or ethnicity, students with disabilities, religion or faith, etc.
- InclusiveVT websiteIncludes the Principles of Community.
- VT Cultural and Community Centers websiteThese include American Indian & Indigenous Community Center; Asian Cultural Engagement Center; Black Cultural Center; El Centro - Hispanic and Latinx Cultural Center; Intercultural Engagement Center; and LGBTQ+ Resource Center.
- VT Diversity and Inclusion Dialogues blogThis blog contains discussions on inclusion and diversity at VT as well as information on student organizations, faculty/staff caucuses and alliances, InclusiveVT, and more.
- VT Faculty and Staff Caucuses and Alliances websiteThese include American Indian and Indigenous People's Alliance; Appalachian Caucus; Asian/Asian American Faculty / Staff Caucus; Black Caucus; Disability Alliance and Caucus; Hispanic & Latinx Faculty & Staff Caucus; International Faculty / Staff Caucus; LGBT Faculty / Staff Caucus; Veteran's Caucus; and Women's Alliance. Many of these are also open to students and community members.
- GobblerConnect websiteGobblerConnect is home to the official pages of student organizations, such as the Black Organizations Council, Asian American Coalition, Disability Alliance, Jewish Student Union of Virginia Tech, Islamic Student Assembly, Queer and Trans People of Color at Virginia Tech, and many more organizations.
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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.