This collection contains the papers of Ralph Minthorne Brown, Virginia Tech head librarian (1926-1947), amateur historian and naturalist. It includes materials on Virginia Tech and local history, including typed transcripts of sources gathered for an intended history of Virginia Tech. Also included are Brown's Blacksburg ornithological and weather observations, a bibliography of Matthew Fontaine Maury, and other writings.

This collection contains letters from Garland D. Kite to Ralph Brown. The letters detail Kite's experiences as a soldier in Europe during the last two years of World War II.

The J. Preston Newman Papers includes four poems (1935-1938, n.d.), as well as papers relating to Ralph Minthorne Brown, university librarian at Virginia Tech.

The collection consists of letters to Ralph M. Brown, librarian at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI), from John P. Sawyer, who graduated from VPI in 1940.