This collection includes the written minutes and papers of the Maury Literary Society from 1873 to 1928 and documents related to the personal awards of the society's namesake, Matthew F. Maury. The Maury Literary Society was formed from the split of the Virginia Literary Society in 1873 along with its counterpart the Lee Literary Society. MLS helped create the first student publication, the Gray Jacket, in 1875. The MLS folded in 1928.

John McClaren McBryde served as the fifth president of Virginia Tech (1891-1907). This collection documents his tenure as president, including correspondence, letter books, reports, bids and contracts, and other records.

The F. P. Miles Letter to Henry C. Wysor was a letter written by Miles in Blacksburg, Virginia, on July 18, 1889, to Wysor in Dublin, Virginia. The letter details an insurance payment to Wysor and is written on Virginia Agriculture and Mechanical College (now Virginia Tech) letterhead. Miles (1860-1890) was a professor of chemistry and geology at the college, while Wysor (1847-1927) was an agent for the New-York Life Insurance Company.

The collection contains a Civil War-era cash book of Captain Charles L. C. Minor, Confederate Army ordnance officer and first president of Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1879). Also contains diary entries of Union Army Private Edward P. Harmon, 5th Maine Infantry, for May-June 1864. Accompanied by research materials on the two soldiers (including maps, muster rolls, and pension notes) and a complete photocopy of the cash book/diary.

The John Murray Papers document the participation of John Murray, a Virginia Tech chemistry professor from 1942 to 1971, in Virginia's ornithological community. Collected materials include manuscript articles, scholarly correspondence, and bird watching logs which focus largely on Montgomery County, Virginia.

The Named/Individual Photograph Collections include images from alumni and former faculty and staff, or individuals with ties to campus and the New River Valley. Collections (c.1890-present) depict campus life and events, railroad history, agricultural extension research, Blacksburg and surrounding areas, and some local families.

This collection includes the papers of Hermann C. Niemeyer, a student at Virginia Agricultural & Mechanical College (now Virginia Tech) during the 1870s. It includes a list of Niemeyer's expenses while at school in 1876 and 1877, a certificate of accomplishment, well-wishes of classmates, and a photo portrait of Niemeyer in uniform.

This collection contains five photographs, thirteen stereo views, a leather bound pocket notepad, and twenty receipts covering Greenwood H. Nowlin Jr.'s time at Virginia Agriculture and Mechanical College (now Virginia Tech).

This collection consists of papers--including correspondence, schoolwork, diplomas, diaries, photographs, and printed materials--of Louis O'Shaughnessy, professor of mathematics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI); his wife Ida Surface O'Shaughnessy; their daughter, VPI mathematics instructor Betty O'Shaughnessy Bock; and the Surface family (parents and siblings of Ida Surface O'Shaughnessy).