This collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American 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 Blair-Weindel-Schrader Family Papers include nearly 100 letters to and from letters of the three families, all based in Marion, Virginia, from about 1958-1998. Many of the letters are typed, but include handwritten addenda. The letters, written to relatives in and around other parts of Virginia, contain substantial detail on family members and local/regional activities.

The collection contains a photograph of the Norfolk & Western Passenger Station, in Marion, Virginia, n.d.

Postcards from Appalachia contains postcards depicting various landmarks, locations, and scenery in the Appalachian region during the first half of the 20th century.

This collection contains papers from the Shugart Family of Southwest Virginia, created between 1811 and 1876.