ArchivesSpace Public Interface

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.

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.

This collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson.

The collection consists of a timeline and copies of documentation about Robert Creede Taylor, a former student at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and his family during the years 1866 to 1915 gathered by R. C. Taylor's great-grandson.

The Charles E. Vawter Family Collection contains a ledger from 1882-1883, two Virginia Polytechnic Institute's Bugle yearbooks from 1900 and 1913, a CDV photo album, and two early daguerreotypes.

In general, vertical files at Special Collections and University Archives include newspaper clippings, photocopies, ephemera, unpublished and/or informal publications, and other papers relating to a specific subject area. Files in this collection relate to individuals and families connected to the local area (Blacksburg, Montgomery County, and Southwest Virginia) and/or to Virginia Tech. Each individual/family below has at least one folder and many include cross references.