Amelia Verkerk Events, Just for Fun, University History

79 Meetings, 42 Years Apart: The Return of the VPI–VMI Rivalry

 

79 meetings. 42 years apart. One rivalry renewed.

On September 5, 2026, Virginia Tech and the Virginia Military Institute will meet on the football field for the first time in 42 years. The matchup will mark the 80th meeting between the two programs, bringing one of Virginia’s oldest college football rivalries back to Lane Stadium.

But before the Hokies and Keydets take the field again, the University Libraries at Virginia Tech has been looking back.

In August 2026, University Libraries released “Rediscovering Virginia Tech and VMI’s Forgotten Football Rivalry,” a video exploring the history of the rivalry through artifacts and stories preserved in Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA).  Watch the video here. Additionally, a related exhibit on the first floor of Newman Library in SCUA features photographs and memorabilia from the VPI–VMI rivalry, including the Thanksgiving Day Trophy from 1931 to 1933.

On September 5, 2026, Virginia Tech and the Virginia Military Institute will meet on the football field for the first time in 42 years. The matchup will mark the 80th meeting between the two programs—a milestone that brings one of Virginia’s oldest college football rivalries back to Lane Stadium.

Photograph from the 1896 VPI vs VMI game where VPI won 24-0. From the Historic Photograph Collection.

The history of the rivalry stretches back more than 130 years. In 1894, when Virginia Tech was still known as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, the school met VMI for the first time on Thanksgiving Day in Staunton. VMI won 10–6. A year later, the teams met again in Lynchburg, where VAMC won 6–4. The rivalry was underway.

The Military Classic of the South

For much of the rivalry’s early history, the annual VPI–VMI game was about far more than football. Beginning in 1896, the Thanksgiving game was played in Roanoke, where it became an important annual gathering for students, cadets, alumni, and fans of both institutions. The event eventually became known as the Military Classic of the South.

The Thanksgiving game became an important tradition to VPI students. Thousands traveled to Roanoke for the game and the festivities surrounding it, including parades, dances, dinners, and other events. The rivalry also reflected the similarities between the two institutions. Both VPI and VMI maintained strong military traditions and Corps of Cadets, giving the annual contest a distinctive character that set it apart from other college football rivalries.

The Thanksgiving tradition eventually came to an end. VPI’s growth after World War II transformed the institution from a small, military-oriented college into a much larger university, while its football program developed into a significantly different competitive program from VMI’s. The final Thanksgiving Day game in Roanoke was played in 1969. But while the Thanksgiving tradition ended, the rivalry did not.

The Rivalry Continues

VPI and VMI continued to meet on the football field after the end of the Thanksgiving tradition. The teams played throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, with games moving among locations including Blacksburg, Richmond, Norfolk, and elsewhere in Virginia.

The rivalry produced plenty of memorable contests during these final years. In 1981, VMI defeated Virginia Tech 6–0 in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech answered with victories in the next three meetings, including a 28–0 shutout in 1983. The final game came on October 6, 1984, when Virginia Tech defeated VMI 54–7 at Norfolk’s Foreman Field.

Thumbnail from the “Rediscovering Virginia Tech and VMI’s forgotten football rivalry” YouTube Video, showing the survey program from the 1929 VPI-VMI football game. Courtesy of Chase Parker.

That game became, for the time being, the end of the rivalry.

By the time the two teams left the field in 1984, they had met 79 times. Virginia Tech held the advantage with 49 victories to VMI’s 25, along with five ties.

42 Years Apart

For more than four decades, generations of Virginia Tech and VMI students grew up without experiencing the rivalry firsthand. The players who took the field in 1984 became alumni, parents, grandparents, and eventually spectators watching a piece of Virginia sports history from the sidelines.

The rivalry remained part of the institutional memory of both schools, however. Its history survives in yearbooks, photographs, game programs, newspaper accounts, and other materials preserved in archives—including collections held by Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives.

Now, 42 years after the final meeting, the rivalry is returning.

On September 5, 2026, the VMI Keydets will travel to Blacksburg to face the Virginia Tech Hokies at Lane Stadium. The game will be the 80th meeting between the two programs and the eighth meeting between VMI and Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium.

 

Sources:

Virginia Tech Athletics. “Virginia Tech Football 2026 Season Preview: Home Opponents.” Virginia Tech Athletics, February 2, 2026.

Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives. “Thanksgiving Dinner with Pop Owens.” Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives Blog, November 26, 2015.

Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives. “Thanksgiving Traditions at Virginia Tech.” Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives Blog, November 27, 2013.

University Libraries at Virginia Tech. “Rediscovering Virginia Tech and VMI’s Forgotten Football Rivalry.” Video. August 10, 2026.

Jade Snelling About Special Collections and University Archives, Architecture, International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA), Women's History

The International Archive of Women in Architecture Digital Library Platform: A Short History and User’s Guide

Hello dear readers!

This post is for anyone who wants to learn a little about the way we here at Special Collections and University Archives digitize our analog materials for online use and the platform where some of these can be accessed. The IAWA digital library platform (a selection of IAWA collections) gathers images that have been systematically digitized and described by University Libraries’ staff over the last decade. I was motivated to write this post now partly because new content is available on the platform and, while this is an opportunity to highlight these collections, I also want it to serve as a reminder that the platform is a growing, actively-maintained resource. But, as is the case with any resource, it may occasionally require some user guidance. First, here are a few of those newly available collections to explore:

Second, and one of the many caveats I’ll give in this post, is that the “user’s guide” of the title may be slightly misleading. I will not be providing a step-by-step tutorial or walkthrough of the platform, but will be setting out some loosely organized tips, thoughts on digitization, and some limitations for the curious researcher to be aware of.

How use? Some tips on information foraging

Because I’m an archivist obsessed with context (and I’m familiar with the site’s limitations), I will generally recommend browsing over searching. On the home page of the platform there is a prominent search bar, and just beneath that there are two icons: one for browsing by collection and one for browsing by item. A lack of context can make browsing by item somewhat confusing for the layperson or casual researcher, while drilling down through a single collection can be a good way to get your feet under you while you explore. What makes search hit-or-miss is that there are inevitably inconsistencies in metadata (depending on who created it) both in the way subject terms are applied and overall completeness (more on that below); occasionally, something simple that was missed in quality control, like a misspelling, can mean that an item fitting a user’s search criteria will not appear in their search results. Moreover, users will typically use queries that mirror natural or casual language use rather than formal subject headings or tags.

I will also note that the terms “collection” and “item” are used in an unintuitive way on the platform, which may reflect my own bias as someone who’s familiar with the physical arrangement of the manuscript collections represented on the site. From an archival perspective, “collection” is more intuitive because it corresponds with and is grouped under the creator (this is how archival records are organized, according to the principle of provenance), whereas an “item” on the platform refers to a grouping of physical objects (a real world folder, for example). Whereas in the real world environment I would consider an item to refer to a single drawing, sheet of paper, etc., an item on the platform is an aggregation that may represent anywhere between one object and two hundred (technically, there is no upper limit). The images below show what it looks like to move from the collection-level page to selecting and viewing an item.

Screenshot 1: Collection level view, Elsa Leviseur
Screenshot 2: Browsing items in collection, Elsa Leviseur
Screenshot 3: Selected item, image viewer and carousel

These images are meant to show what it looks like to browse and click through the platform. Here I’m using the Elsa Leviseur collection to show how one might navigate in a top-down manner (from collection down to item). The collection page (screenshot 1) contains identifying information, like the manuscript number, and a biographical sketch of its creator. Scrolling down the page reveals the “items” in the collection (screenshot 2 above). As noted above, these items refer to aggregations of varying size (usually corresponding to physical folders). Screenshot 3 then shows what it looks like to select one of these items. The image viewer is populated with the first image in the “item,” here a greeting card, which can be manipulated using the zoom and reset functions in the bottom righthand corner. Below the image itself is a carousel showing thumbnails of the other objects in the item (in this case the entire item is comprised of 21 images). On the righthand side of the page there’s a title and item-level description, which serves as a good illustration of metadata limitations for collection-scaled digitization and search functionality. Metadata, often used interchangeably with “description” in archives, cannot be done at the level of individual objects because there is too much material, and description is therefore mostly done at the aggregate level. The problem here is a lack of granularity that doesn’t allow the user to search with specificity. The image in Screenshot 3 is obviously a collaged greeting card, a piece of information nowhere listed in the metadata. Other information visually available (but not searchable) is the text in the image itself. Although it may not be immediately apparent to a casual user, “Fleischmann” was Elsa Leviseur’s married name, and it can be easily inferred that this is a family greeting card with pictures of her children. From this small example, one can easily imagine how much subject matter expertise and time it would take to give a full account of every object in every collection. Because every image is just one among many, the goal is to give objects a title that accurately (and briefly) describes varied content so that a given user can make educated guesses and inferences. In other words, some precision is sacrificed to accommodate more content. The researcher still needs to use their judgment when finding and interpreting these materials, and actively engage in the discovery process.

My recommendation to browse by collection notwithstanding, there is an obvious benefit to browsing the platform’s content at the item-level: it allows you to look at examples of the same kind of content across collections. There are a number of filters that can be applied to return a subset of items. For example, if you expand the options under “Medium” on the lefthand navigation menu, you can isolate the items tagged with “charcoal” or “photographic prints.” The gallery of images below are screenshots showing the ways these facets can be selected (note: filters will not automatically deselect when you apply a new one so you will have to manually toggle filters on and off as you go). While imperfect, these filters go some way toward allowing users to remix and reuse materials in ways that would be onerous, if not impossible, in a physical reading room.

Browsing with filter active (Medium: Charcoal)
Browsing with filter active (Medium: Photographic Print – Black and White)
Browsing with filter active (Tag: Associations and Committees)

There are other ways to use the platform, of course. We cannot possibly anticipate every type of use, but my hope is that this primer will answer a few questions about why things are organized the way they are and why some metadata tends toward vagueness rather than specificity. My final caveat for this section is that the digital library platform, while a useful tool, is not the place to search across all IAWA collections (see below).

The broader context of digitized content

At the beginning of this post, I emphasized the word “selection” because the digital library platform is not a comprehensive or complete representation of the IAWA, but in fact a rather small subset of incompletely digitized collections that vary dramatically in size and content. All this is to say that there’s often a misconception that archives can and should “put everything online.” Most archives simply don’t have the institutional capacity, meaning staffing, to support this work at scale. In the case of the digital library platform, the IAWA instance (there is a general instance for University Libraries and an IAWA-specific instance, which we’re discussing here) has largely been seeded by work on a CLIR (Council on Library and Information Resources) “digitizing hidden collections” grant-funded project that lasted from 2017 to 2019. During this period, several team members were hired (myself included) who were entirely dedicated to this project, which included image capture (scanning), metadata creation, and macro-level project management.

Understandably, there’s some user confusion that tends to happen around online representation of analog content. I sometimes field questions from patrons who mistakenly believe that when they search the digital library platform, where a subset of images live, they are searching across all IAWA collections. Typically archival institutions provide access to their materials in multiple ways, but the primary method is by describing collections in “finding aids,” a term of art meaning a resource that contains contextual and structural information about a collection. The context generally consists of biography, provenance, and descriptions of the scope and content of a collection; the structural information usually consists of a box/folder inventory where folder titles are indexed to a particular container (a box, for example). “Finding aid” usually refers to one of these specific inventories (I call it a “table of contents” for primary source material), but it can also refer to a more general guide like the one linked here: https://guides.lib.vt.edu/iawa/collections. This list of collections (ordered alphabetically by creator name) is probably where I would point someone starting their research; another place I would point them is the platform ARVAS (Archival Resources of the Virginias), an aggregator that can be used to search for and across finding aids. There are many ways to find and learn about our collections, even if at first glance it’s frustrating that information lives on different platforms that don’t talk to each other.

Even when we’re just talking about IAWA materials, let alone ALL Special Collections and University Archives materials, what’s available on the library platform is a fraction of a fraction of what is digitized, which in turn represents a fraction of all analog IAWA collections (not to mention born-digital records). Digitization in the context of everyday archival work is mostly done in a piecemeal ad hoc manner according to patrons’ requests. Some of these patrons are architectural historians, while some are homeowners interested in original drawings for their home, and others are family members who want to feel a sense of connection with the work of their grandmothers, mothers, aunts, or sisters. The question of how this case-by-case workflow differs from the one for ingesting collections into a platform is often the difference in the amount of context needed by a specific (and interested) researcher and a general audience coming to collections with no frame of reference. More specifically, what I mean is that it takes time to create quality metadata that supports understanding, reuse, and physical collocation for general users that remains useful long into the future. It’s not so much that creating metadata is not a good use of time, but since it could go on infinitely, it’s a question of priorities and resource allocation. For this reason, the amount of programmatic (systematic as opposed to ad hoc) digitization that takes place in archives varies from institution to institution. Even so, I tend to view digital reproductions as just another discovery pathway for the archives. They cannot (and should not) “replace” the original objects nor will they be sufficient for some forms of research, especially in design pedagogy where the full visual impact and materiality of the original object can be critical.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Amelia Verkerk University History

Cecil R. “Max” Maxson Jr.

“Cast in stone on a corner of Torgerson Hall is a sculpted relief of Cecil, not unlike the storied gargoyles that adorn some of our other gothic buildings. It is cast to withstand the rigors of time. So we can all take comfort in knowing that our beautiful campus will always be tended under Cecil Maxson’s watchful eye.”

– Charles Steger in 2001 about Cecil Maxson and his dedication to Virginia Tech

If you are on campus, walking behind Torgerson Hall, and look up, you will see a relief of a smiling face with “MAX” carved underneath. For those who do not know, we put together a blog post to explain a bit more about Max and all that he did for Virginia Tech.

Cecil R. “Max” Maxson Jr. (1931-2022) graduated from Virginia Tech in 1952 and devoted more than four decades to strengthening the university he deeply loved. His lifelong commitment was shaped early by his service in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the Korean War, and later by a distinguished civilian career in telecommunications, real estate, and banking.

1998-1999 Virginia Tech Board of Visitors (Max is in the sitting row on the far left)

Max served three terms on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, spending eight years on its Executive Committee and eight years as chair of the Building and Grounds Committee. During a period of significant growth, he helped guide the development of more than 100 major buildings across the university’s 2,600-acre campus. His leadership blended technical expertise with a heartfelt belief that Virginia Tech’s physical campus should reflect its mission, values, and aspirations. The campus that Hokies know today — its cohesion, its character, and its thoughtful planning — bears his imprint.

His influence stretched well beyond infrastructure. Max supported the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, led the William Preston Society, served on the Alumni Association Board, and participated in multiple honor societies. Together with his wife, Shirlee, he endowed scholarships in architecture, building construction, and veterinary medicine, ensuring that future Hokies would benefit from the opportunities he cherished.

Unfortunately, Max passed away in 2022; however, his legacy continues to shape the university. The relief stands as a permanent reminder of Max’s unwavering dedication to the campus he help to improve. Students, faculty, staff, and visitors may pass beneath it without knowing Max’s story, but its presence is a testament to the enduring care he gave to Virginia Tech.

References:

https://news.vt.edu/articles/2023/01/cm-maxson-memoriam.html
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/roanoke/name/cecil-maxson-obituary?id=38356675
https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/vtpubs/spectrum/2001/sp2001-0427.pdf
Anthony Wright de Hernandez Local/Regional History

Resorts and Relaxation: A Look into Past Vacation Destinations of the Virginias

written by SCUA student library assistant Ella Winterling

A black and white landscape view of a historic resort. In the foreground is a fence with a small building at the center. Long rows of buildings line the base of hills on the left and right, framing a central plaza containing tree-lines paths, grassy lawns, and a central fountain. At the far end of the complex is a large building anchoring the two rows of houses. In the distance are forested hills and a foggy mountain peak.

Throughout the mountains of Virginia, several resorts, some still operational and some only marked by a monument, provide a glimpse into the history of hotels and relaxation and their evolution over time. From the Greenbrier, a hotel that continues to be a luxury destination today, to Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, which now only stands as a monument and relic of the past, these resorts signal a different time, where guests came from far and wide to leisurely spend the whole vacation season.

Earlier this semester, I began work on curating and collecting materials for an exhibit revolving around the past leisure culture of Virginia. Virginia Tech, located in southwest Virginia, is not too far away from some prominent hotels of the past. Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, Yellow Sulphur Springs, and Mountain Lake Lodge are located in the areas immediately surrounding, if not in, Blacksburg, Virginia. Other resorts, like the Greenbrier and Craig Healing Springs are located in the areas surrounding Virginia’s border with West Virginia, but are still relatively close.

Many of the resorts listed above grew in popularity due to their access to mineral-rich water, believed to have healing properties. Dating back from ancient civilizations, mineral rich spring water is believed to have the capability of easing muscle aches and skin conditions, but has not been effective in every ailment. Guests would travel to spas located near springs to not only drink the water, but bathe in the springs as well. Resorts would also provide accommodations, food, and other activities for guests to enjoy for the summer season.

As the leisure class and spring water decreased in prominence, several resorts, like Yellow Sulphur Springs and Montgomery White Sulphur Springs would close their doors. Factors like medical developments, the establishment of income taxes, the Great Depression, global conflicts, and changing travel trends, led to a shift away from springs resorts as a prime vacation destination. However, other resorts like the Greenbrier would add golf courses, casinos and even, in this case, a Cold War-era bunker, and remain popular through the present day.

Another resort still operating today, Mountain Lake Lodge, was first established in 1851. The resort saw the Civil War, was home to one of the first all-girls camps, and most famously was the filming location for the 1987 movie, Dirty Dancing. The lodge currently offers outdoors activities, Dirty Dancing themed events, and more.

In researching resorts to feature in this exhibit, I found that there was a wide range of materials available, from photographs, to letters, to menus. I went back and forth on what aspects of the collections to feature, but I decided that giving an overview of the multiple resorts throughout the area could be both educational and interesting, especially since there was plenty of material to use.

One group of materials I included was correspondence. In utilizing the Yellow Sulphur Springs Hotel Collection (Ms 1940-033) and the Craig Healing Springs [Craig County, Virginia] Letters (Ms 1990-078), I included patron inquires into accommodations and rates, and even a letter detailing a seafood delivery, to not only give the perspective of resort guests, but the business aspect as well.

I also included a guest book, dated from 1887 to 1895, from the Yellow Sulphur Springs Hotel Collection.The large register gives insight into the names of guests, their accommodations, and dates that they stayed. The guest book is also lined with advertisements from Lynchburg, Virginia, providing a look into other historical businesses and activities of the time.

Since the Yellow Sulphur Springs Hotel Collection includes a large range of materials, I decided to dedicate a whole case to the resort and spa. In addition to the letters and guest book, I also added photographs from Special Collection and University Archives’ Montgomery County collection of photos in the Historical Photograph Collection. The photographs provide a visual into how the resort actually looked around the time of its popularity. Overall, using a range of materials can provide insight into the different aspects of how a spa and resort operated in that time period.

Similar to Yellow Sulphur Springs, Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, a resort local to Blacksburg, also had a range of materials in Special Collections and University Archives. Montgomery White Sulphur Springs was another resort and spa, made popular partially due to its mineral rich water. The resort also transitioned into a hospital during the Civil War, then returned to its state as a hotel after the war, until a flood ultimately led to the resort closing its doors.

For the case dedicated to the Montgomery White Sulphur Springs resort, I primarily used materials from the Dorothy H. Bodell Papers (Ms 1988-042), which includes materials from Bodell’s research of the resort and spa. Some materials I used include a newspaper clipping, a copy of her book, Montgomery White Sulphur Springs: A History of the Resort, Hospital Cemeteries, Markers, and Monuments, as well as photographs of the resort. I also used an invitation for a ball held at the resort from the Virginia Ball Invitations collection (Ms 2009-103), which showcases the leisurely lifestyle of the time. In selecting materials for this case, I tried to select items that would showcase the resort’s time as a vacation hub, but that would also point to its transitions through the Civil War and eventually into the 20th century.

For the final case of the exhibit, I included various materials from other resorts across the Virginias, including materials from collections such as the Craig Healing Springs [Craig County, Virginia] Letters, mentioned above, The Greenbrier (Resort), West Virginia, Menus (Ms 2015-002), and photographs from the Mountain Lake Historical Photographs Collection and the Alleghany Springs Album, part of the Montgomery County Historical Photographs Collection.
In curating this exhibit, with the help of Kat Zinn, Project Archivist, I wanted to create an overview of the hospitality history of the Virginias, focusing not only on the resorts themselves, but the culture, business, and inner-workings of the vacation destinations.

Citations:

Craig Healing Springs Letters, Ms1990-078, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Dorothy H. Bodell Papers, 1850-1996, Ms88-042, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Fowler, Gene. (2019, Feb. 28). Taking the Waters: The Fascinating History of Texas’ Mineral-Water Resorts. Texas Highways. https://texashighways.com/culture/history/taking-the-waters-the-fascinating-history-of-texas-mineral-water-resorts/

Gross, Michael. (2024, Aug. 12). The Rise and Fall of Gilded Age Resorts. Palmer. https://palmerpb.com/2024/08/12/gilded-age-resorts/

Historical Photograph Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va

Knudson, Jack. (2024, Mar. 26). Taking the Waters: How Natural Springs Can Have Healing Benefits. Discover Magazine. https://www.discovermagazine.com/taking-the-waters-how-natural-springs-can-have-healing-benefits-46033

Soak in Time: A Journey into the Rich History of Hot Springs. Yellowstone Hot Springs. Retrieved January 23, 2024, from https://yellowstonehotspringsmt.com/rich-history-of-hot-springs/

The Greenbrier (Resort), West Virginia, Menus, Ms2015-002, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Virginia Ball Invitations, Ms2009-103, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Yellow Sulphur Springs Hotel Collection, Ms1940-033, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Kalei Woodford Just for Fun, Local/Regional History

A Recap of Imagine Weekend: Archives in Action

A handwritten statement by Boucher offering a censure resolution instead of the impeachment of Bill Clinton
A speech given by Boucher against the impeachment of Bill Clinton
Boucher and Bill Clinton shake hands at the White House
Boucher shakes hands with Bill Clinton at an event
Boucher with Harold Berman (CA) during a judiciary committee meeting for the proceedings of the impeachment of Bill Clinton in Washington, D.C.

During Boucher’s talk, he also discussed his efforts to expand the economy in Southwest Virginia. He started a program called Showcasing Southwest Virginia to garner interest from national companies to start branches in the various counties of the ninth district. To provide examples of Boucher’s efforts to improve Southwest Virginia, I included three photographs that were taken at these events. Along with the photos, I included the announcement Boucher released concerning the creation of Showcasing Southwest Virginia. The final item relating to expanding the economy in this region is a newsletter containing updates on Showcasing Southwest Virginia.

Amelia Verkerk Just for Fun, University History

The Scuba Club at Virginia Tech

When researching for reference questions, you never know what rabbit hole you may fall into while looking for answers. This week, I learned about the Scuba Club at Virginia Tech!

Scuba Club in 1969, Bugle 

The Scuba Club has been around Virginia Tech since the 1964-1965 school year and was started by a small group of devoted divers. By the late 1970s, the club had grown large enough to certify up to 100 divers each year. Highlights of the club included local diving trips to the New River, Claytor Lake, and Mountain Lake as well as their yearly Spring Break trip to the Florida Keys. In addition to fun diving trips, the club utilized the War Memorial Gym’s pool for practices and classes. The club sponsored beginning SCUBA classes each quarter, underwater and on-land social events, and volunteer opportunities with the local Search and Rescue Dive Team. Club members promoted diving safety and education, protection of aquatic environments, and wildlife conservation.

Scuba Club 1978, Bugle

Fun bonding activities included celebrating the club’s anniversary each year at Claytor Lake, underwater scavenger hunts, and underwater Backgammon Marathons to raise money for charities. In 1980, club members broke the world record for “playing Backgammon underwater for 101 hours” (according to that year’s Bugle).

Scuba Club logo, circa 1990s, RG 31/15

Over the years, the club evolved. By the club’s 30th anniversary, members began offering more specialty classes, such as advanced diving and rescue diving, in addition to their introductory courses. The club would hold weekly meetings, an annual Christmas banquet, and an end-of-the-year party for members and their friends. The yearly Spring Break trip expanded to other places like Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas. The club continued their fun traditions of underwater games, including underwater hockey, and diving trips to local quarries and lakes. They also sponsored trips with the Caving Club to go cave diving around Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

Scuba Club featured in the March 2, 2009 edition of the Collegiate Times

The Scuba Club is thriving today, offering even more classes and opportunities for the Hokie Community! For more information, please visit their website for the most up-to-date information: https://sites.google.com/vt.edu/scvt/home 

If you’re interested in preserving your club or organization’s history, please reach out to Amelia Verkerk, VT’s University Archivist at ajverkerk@vt.edu!

 

Resources:

RG 31/15 (Sports Clubs/Events (Extramural))

Bugles (especially the 1978, 1980, 1997, 1998, and 2004 editions)

The Collegiate Times

Anthony Wright de Hernandez Civil War, The 1960s

VOICES OF INFLUENCE

Poster introducing the "Voices of Influence: War and Propaganda Through the Ages" exhibit from Special Collections and University Archives at Virginia Tech University Libraries. It features a U.S. Navy recruiting poster showing a World War I era airplane.

During the summer of 2024, our outreach assistant, Sterling Bryant, curated an exhibit on propaganda before leaving to pursue his Master’s degree with Virginia Tech’s Department of history. He did a spectacular job and this has been one of our most popular exhibits. This blog post translates the exhibit into digital form so that we can share it more easily online.

This exhibit explores the powerful role of propaganda as it was used during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The items featured here include pamphlets, posters, books, and artifacts which illustrate how governments, political parties, social movements, and others employed propaganda to sway hearts and minds during some of the most tumultuous periods in history.

Curated By

Sterling Bryant, SCUA Outreach Assistant; Master’s Student, Department of History
Anthony Wright de Hernandez, Archivist

Sections

American Civil War
World War I
US Red Scare
World War II
CHINA Cultural Revolution
Cold War
VIET NAM
US PEACETIME
Additional Content

American Civil War

Union Recruitment Poster

Broadside poster recruiting for the Union Army
Date1861
CreatorUnited States Army
PublisherIngalls, Brockway & Beebee Printers
CollectionHomer E. Davis Papers (MS.2001.051)
DescriptionRecruitment posters like this one were used by the United States Army during the American Civil War. They were designed to recruit Americans to join the Union Army by stoking fears of a Confederate invasion of Washington D.C. This poster is a replica from the New York Historical Society.

George F. Doyle Scrapbook

A scrapbook page featuring some political cartoons, American flags, and the music and lyrics for "The Massachusetts Line"
Datecirca 1861
CreatorsGeorge F. Doyle
PublisherNone
CollectionGeorge Doyle Scrapbook (Ms.1989.096)
DescriptionScrapbooks like this were compiled during the American Civil War. Some contained information on the 1860 election or memorabilia on the Confederate States of America. This scrapbook was patriotic to the Union and contains music and images that can be recognized by Americans today. The full scrapbook can be viewed online.

World War I

Thrift and Economy

A poster showing a statement signed by the Council of National Defense and the Advisory Commission of the Council.
Datecirca 1917 or 1918
CreatorsCouncil of National Defense
The Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense
PublisherUnited States Food Administration
CollectionWorld War I Food Posters (Acc.2021.094)
DescriptionPosters like this were common during the First and Second World Wars. They urged Americans to conserve resources so that they could be used by the military in the war effort. This poster depicts a signed statement by the Council of National Defense and the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense encouraging citizens to avoid all unnecessary expenditures to help the war effort.

Sugar Means Ships

Poster featuring a line drawing of a woman drinking from a straw in a cup. The bottom of the cup is pulling water with cargo ships labeled "Sugar" away from their path toward Europe. Rising above Europe is a black cloud labeled "War".
Datecirca 1917
CreatorFuhr, E. (Ernest), 1874-1933
PublisherUnited States Food Administration
CollectionWorld War I Food Posters (Acc.2021.094)
DescriptionSugar rationing for commercial uses began in fall 1917, reducing production of ice cream, sodas, and other treats which had become popular in part thanks to their promotion as alternatives for alcohol by the Temperance movement in the United States. Rationing for civilians did not begin until 1918; however, the United States was not capable of producing enough sugar domestically to meet demand. This led to calls for people to reduce sugar consumption so ships could be used for the war rather than to ship sugar.

Baker Recruitment Poster

Datecirca 1917
CreatorUnited States Army
PublisherNational Printing and Engraving Company, New York
CollectionWorld War I Baker Recruitment Poster (Ms.2021.029)
DescriptionRecruiting posters were a necessity during the World Wars. Conscription could only add so many specialties to the military, meanwhile specialists like bakers were greatly needed. This baker recruitment poster likely dates to New York City in 1917 and gives a quota on how many bakers are needed to support the United States Army.

Food Saving and Sharing

Yellow book cover with the title Food Saving and Sharing. In the center is a circular seal with the words "America's food pledge 20 million tons" above a stars and stripes shield. Wheat stalks wrap around the words and shield as a border.
A book's title page.
Line drawing in green ink showing a young woman and young man filling a picnic basket bearing a U.S. coat of arms with food.
Date1918
CreatorsTappan, Eva March, 1854-1930
United States Food Administration
United States Bureau of Education
United States Department of Agriculture
PublisherDoubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, New York
CollectionRare Books Collection (TX367.U6 1918)
DescriptionSubtitled “Telling how the older children of America may help save from famine their comrades in allied lands across the sea.” Toward the end of the First World War, famine began affecting families around the world. The United States Food Administration published literature urging families to conserve and share food with their neighbors so that comrades in allied lands across the sea could be saved from starvation.

Japanese Coronation Prints: Emperor Taishō

These lithograph prints were created to commemorate the enthronement of Yoshihito, later known as Emperor Taishō, to Japan’s Chrysanthemum Throne. The ceremony, held in November 1915 while Japan fought alongside the Allied forces in World War I, was the first of its type held as a public event and with foreign leaders in attendance.

Emperor Seated Upon the Throne in Shinshinden Palace

Lithograph depicting Emperor Taishō seated on a throne inside a blue-curtained structure with many embellishments that is atop a raised platform.
Date1915 (Taishô 4), Nov. 5 (printed)
1915 (Taishô 4), Nov. 8 (published)
CreatorRyôzô, Tanaka
PublisherShôbidô Tanaka
CollectionJapanese Coronation Prints, Emperor Taishō
DescriptionHis Majesty the Emperor Seated upon the Throne in the Shinshinden Palace at the Enthronement Ceremony. The ‘Takamikura’ H.i.M. The Present Emperor’s coronation ceremony at ‘Shinshinden.’ From the series commemorating the Imperial Ceremonies.

Emperor Passed Through the Royal Gate

Lithograph showing a red horse-drawn carriage passing through a large gate as part of a procession while soldiers stand in formation along the sides of the roadway watching it pass.
Date1915 (Taishô 4), Nov. 18 (printed)
1915 (Taishô 4), Nov. 20 (published)
CreatorRyôzô, Tanaka
PublisherShôbidô Tanaka
CollectionJapanese Coronation Prints, Emperor Taishō
DescriptionHis Majesty the Emperor passed through the royal gate to perform the official ceremony. From the series commemorating the Imperial Ceremonies.

Red Scare: Communism in America

These pamphlets published between the 1930s and the 1950s vary in support or opposition to the working class in the United States who may be identified as “communist” or “socialist” by the United States Government. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the United States was experiencing something called the “Red Scare” and there were federal investigations to determine if individuals were spies for Soviet Russia.

The Un-American Dies Committee

Cover for a pamphlet titled "The Un-American Dies Committee"
Pages 16 and 17 of a pamphlet titled "The Un-American Dies Committee" which describe the actions and reason for the existence of the Dies Committee.
Date1939
CreatorsLapin, Adam
PublisherWorkers Library Publishers, Inc.
CollectionBlack History Pamphlet Collection (Ms.2012.066)
DescriptionOn May 26, 1938, the House Committee on Un-American Activities was established to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities of private citizens, public employees, and organizations suspected of communist or fascist ties. It was chaired by Martin Dies Jr. (D-Tex.). This pamphlet describes the activities of the committee and its apparent willingness to believe any accusation of communist tendencies.

The Plot to Gag America

Date1950
CreatorsGurley-Flynn, Elizabeth
PublisherNew Century Publishers
CollectionBlack History Pamphlet Collection (Ms.2012.066)
DescriptionWritten by a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party and a leader in the American labor movement, this pamphlet argues against the Mundt-Nixon Bill, formally called the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1948 that would have required all members of the Communist Party of the United States to register with the Attorney General.

Let the People Know

Cover for a pamphlet titled "Let the People Know: The Truth About the Communists Which the Un-American Committee Tried to Suppress"
Pages 10 and 11 of a pamphlet titled "Let the People Know" which describe the Rankin Bill (H.R. 1884) and the Sheppard Bill (H.R. 2122) from the perspective of the American Communist Party.
Date1947
CreatorsDennis, Eugene, 1905-1961
PublisherNew Century Publishers
CollectionBlack History Pamphlet Collection (Ms.2012.066)
DescriptionThis pamphlet subtitled “The Truth About the Communists Which the Un-American Committee Tried to Suppress” was written by the General Secretary of the American Communist Party and lays out arguments against the Rankin Bill (H.R. 1884) and the Sheppard Bill (H.R. 2122) which were both intended to curb or outlaw the Communist Party in the United States.

World War II

War Bond Poster

Date1944
CreatorsUnited States Treasury
PublisherUnited States Government Printing Office
CollectionRalph Minthorne Brown Papers (Ms.1970.002)
DescriptionWar Bonds were integral to funding the United States military during World War II. Posters like these went up to urge Americans to buy bonds that would later be paid back to the purchaser at value plus interest after the war.

Make America Strong Posters

Date1941
CreatorsExtension Service, United States Department of Agriculture
PublisherUnited States Government Printing Office
CollectionMake America Strong Poster Collection (Ms.2008.012)
DescriptionBefore World War II, the science of nutrition was not well understood. Scientists knew that protein, energy, and minerals made for a healthy diet, but they did not know the specifics. With the approach of World War II, the government was very concerned about malnourishment among the citizenry following the Great Depression. The “Make America Strong” poster campaign was created by the United States Department of Agriculture Extension Service and included thirteen posters promoting the importance of dietary needs, healthy eating habits, and ways to fight food insecurity. Three of the thirteen posters were featured in the exhibit.

The first poster in the series shows an idealized depiction of masculine strength and sets the tone for the campaign.

In the middle of the series is a poster encouraging meals that are ample, well prepared, and rich in “protective foods.” Included under the label “protective foods” were milk, leafy vegetables, eggs, fish, and organ meats.

The final poster serves as a rallying cry for Americans to get to work making a positive change.

More Production

Ad from General Cable Corporation urging more production and showing smokestacks from numerous factories.
DateMay 1942
CreatorsGeneral Cable Corporation
PublisherArmy & Navy Journal (John Callan O’Laughlin)
CollectionRare Books Collection (D769.U55 1942)
DescriptionThis special issue of the Army and Navy Journal, titled “United States at War December 7, 1941 – December 7, 1942,” was sponsored by General Cable Corporation. The advertisement from that company on the inside front cover supports the “More Production” war effort. The rest of the journal contains letters and reports by government employees and military commanders detailing the first year of the war effort.

England and Normandy in Seabee Roads to Victory

Cover of the book "Seabee Roads to Victory" featuring battalion badges from U.S. Naval Construction Batallions.
Map of England and Normandy from "Seabee Roads to Victory"
Descriptive text and image captions for the England and Normandy map in "Seabee Roads to Victory"
Date1944
CreatorsMetzl, Ervine, 1899-1963 (maps)
Huie, William Bradford, 1910-1986 (text)
PublisherE.P. Dutton & Co.
CollectionRare Books Collection (D769.U55 M4)
DescriptionThe Seabee Roads to Victory serves as recruitment propaganda for the United States Navy. The Seabees, still around today, are the construction wing of the Navy. During the Second World War, the Seabees constructed bases, staging areas, and training facilities in the Mediterranean and Northern Africa. Featured here is the book’s account of Seabee involvement in landing operations in Normandy during World War II.

Paper Bullets: Great Propaganda Posters, Axis & Allied Countries WWII

Cover of "Paper Bullets: Great Propaganda Posters, Axis & Allied Countries WWII" featuring a poster of a woman holding a baby with shadowy, clawed, hands bearing Japanese and Nazi symbols reaching toward them. It is a propaganda poster promoting Victory Bonds.
Date1977
CreatorsLerner, Daniel, 1917-1980
PublisherChelsea House Publishers, Distributed by Whirlwind Books
CollectionRare Books Collection (D743.25 P36)
DescriptionThis book contains various propaganda posters from the World War II era. Seven were featured as part of the exhibit.

Ecco I “Liberatori”!

A poster showing a skeletal Statue of Liberty removing a mask to reveal her skull while standing over a burning city.
Date1944
CreatorsArtist Unknown
OriginItaly
DescriptionThis poster comes from Italy in 1944 and suggests that the Allied forces coming through Italy were leaving a trail of destruction behind them. The text reads “Here are the ‘liberators’!”

Соревнуйтесь На Лучшую Помощь Фронту!

Poster with Cyrillic writing that shows a young man proudly holding a red flag bearing the faces of Stalin and Lenin. In the background is an industrial plant and an airfield launching many planes.
Date1942
CreatorsKorkorekin, Alexei Alekseevich (Кокорекин, Алексей Алексеевич)
OriginUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics
DescriptionUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics World War II propaganda poster. The text reads “Follow this worker’s example. Produce more for the front!”

這個美國空軍把日本人趕出了中國的天空ー援助他！

Leaflet with Chinese writing that depicts a heavily armed American airman stamping on a cowering Japanese soldier.
Datecirca 1945
CreatorsUnited States, Office of War Information
OriginUnited States of America
DescriptionA Pro-American leaflet in Chinese showing a heavily armed American airman stamping on a cowering Japanese soldier. The text reads “This American airman drives the Jap from China’s Skies –Give him your help!”

人人敌忾，步不设防，坚强壁垒，制敌死命

A poster divided into four sections each with its own line drawing in red ink. One shows soldiers marching. Two shows stone walls with guns sticking from the top. Three shows multiple gun barrels. Four shows Japanese Emperor Hirohito on the ground.
Datecirca 1937
CreatorsJunshi weiyuanhui zhengxunchu (军事委员会政训处)
OriginChina
DescriptionA Chinese woodcut poster. The text reads “Everybody must hate the enemy, defenses must be constructed step-by-step, fortifications must be strengthened, the enemy must be exterminated!”

der Fuehrer’s Face

Date1942
CreatorsWalt Disney Studios
OriginUnited States of America
DescriptionPromotional poster for the animated anti-Nazi propaganda short film “der Fuehrer’s Face.” The film was originally titled “Donald Duck in Nutziland” or “A Nightmare in Nutziland.” It was released in 1943 and attempted to lift the spirits of Americans experiencing rationing as the country shifted toward a war footing.

Holding The Line

Datecirca 1942
CreatorsGuigmon, Henri
OriginUnited States of America
DescriptionThis United States poster caricatures Winston Churchill as a British bulldog to highlight the tenacity of the British people holding the line on the European front in World War II.

Anti-German Postcard

Date1944
CreatorsUnknown
OriginBelgium
DescriptionThis Belgian postcard from 1944 features the allied forces represented by a winged depiction of the Roman goddess Libertas or “Liberty” who is holding the flags of the allied nations as she defeats Germany.

China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

Mao Quotation on Study Classes

Datecirca 1969
CreatorsArtist Unknown
PublisherUnknown
CollectionAlice Langley Hsieh Papers (Ms.1979.004)
DescriptionEnglish translation: Holding study classes is a good method; many problems can be solved in study classes. During China’s Cultural Revolution, posters containing “Chairman Mao’s Latest Instructions” were published regularly and were celebrated by the people.

Mao Quotation on Revolutionary Committees

Datecirca 1969
CreatorsArtist Unknown
PublisherUnknown
CollectionAlice Langley Hsieh Papers (Ms.1979.004)
DescriptionEnglish translation: Erect revolutionary committees of three unions, do great criticisms, clean up the revolutionary ranks, consolidate the Party organization, simplify the structures, reform irrational regulation systems, send the administrative staff to the countryside, struggle, criticize, correct in the factories, in the main go through this process a few times.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics During the Cold War

Pamphlets published by Russia’s state-owned domestic news agency. Sovinformburo (Совинформбюро) was founded in June 1941 and operated under that name until 1961 when it became the Novosti Press Agency (APN). It underwent a series of name changes and reorganizations from 1990 to 2013 and was absorbed into the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, known as Roskomnadzor (RKN).

Towards Freedom and Progress

Cover of a pamphlet titled "Towards Freedom and Progress"
Date1970
CreatorsKhamid Sharapovich Inoi︠a︡tov
PublisherNovosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow
CollectionSoviet Propaganda Literature (Acc.2011.040)
DescriptionThe Soviet Union experienced ups and downs within its tenure as a world power. This pamphlet lays out a plan to continue their rise and grasp over world affairs.

Anti-Sovietism – Profession of Zionists

Cover of a pamphlet titled "Anti-Sovietism - Profession of Zionists"
Date1971
CreatorsVladimir Viktorovich Bolʹshakov
PublisherNovosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow
CollectionSoviet Propaganda Literature (Acc.2011.040)
DescriptionThis propaganda piece discusses how Zionism is anti-Soviet.

Soviet Sport: The Way to Medals

Two page spread from a book. One page has a photograph of a stadium with many people outside it. The other has photos of a man supervising a young child climbing a rope ladder and a group of men practicing water polo in a small section of open water cut into some ice while two skiiers watch.
Date1988
CreatorsAleksandr Rostislavovich Lavrov
PublisherNovosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow
CollectionSoviet Propaganda Literature (Acc.2011.040)
DescriptionThis pamphlet showcases the athletic talent of Soviet athletes in the 1980s. The Soviet Union also published propaganda for events like the Olympics, to display their legitimacy on the world stage.

We Are Building A Long-Term Policy Speech

Cover of a printed English language copy of Gorbachev's 1988 speech "We Are Building a Long-Term Policy"
Date1988
CreatorsMikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev
PublisherNovosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow
CollectionSoviet Propaganda Literature (Acc.2011.040)
DescriptionSubtitled “speech on the occasion of the meeting in Moscow of the US-USSR Trade and Economic Council, April 13, 1988.” Pamphlets like these were common in the Soviet Union throughout their time as a world power. Gorbachev was very notorious for pushing them out in the late 1980s as their empire looked as if it were ready to crumble.

Viet Nam

South Viet Nam in Struggle

Cover page of a newspaper
Date1971 Nov 29
CreatorsNational Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Mặt Trận Dân Tộc Giải Phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam)
PublisherNational Liberation Front of South Vietnam Information Commission
CollectionBlack History Pamphlet Collection (Ms.2012.066)
DescriptionThis paper was written for an English-speaking audience to demonstrate to the world that the United States was not dampening the spirit of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (also known as the Viet Cong).

Peacetime in America

Our Most Important Unit

Newspaper page featuring a recruiting ad for the U.S. Army
Date1996 Apr 8
CreatorsThe Army Times
PublisherThe Army Times
CollectionJohn A. Coulter Collection on Richard T. Shae, Jr. Newspaper Articles (Ms.2000.090)
DescriptionIn The Army Times, this picture advertises how the family unit is the most important unit in the United States military. Its purpose is to recruit people who may have a spouse and children. It details benefits available to Army spouses and children such as spousal employment assistance and assistance locating childcare.

Additional Content

Following the creation of the exhibit, Sterling began work on a related project during his first year of graduate school. This project will conclude with three live presentations on his Twitch channel and content about the exhibit materials on his website.

Twitch schedule

Join Sterling’s live presentations about this material in late November 2024 at https://twitch.tv/Strlang.

Part ITuesday, November 26 at 9:00 pm
Part IIWednesday, November 27 at 7:00 pm
Part IIIFriday, November 29 at 7:00 pm
Anthony Wright de Hernandez About Special Collections and University Archives, Civil War, Faculty, University History

Dr. Bud: Life and Legacy of Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr.

written by history graduate assistant Miles A. Abernethy

Introduction

Earlier this month, I completed researching and putting together an exhibit on the professional life and legacy of Dr. James I. Robertson Jr. Known to friends and fans as “Dr. Bud,” Robertson taught Civil War history at Virginia Tech for over forty years, from 1967 to 2011. Even before the term came into vogue, he taught the Civil War like a public historian, seeking to appeal to broad audiences. He achieved this through vivid storytelling, connecting people to the lived experiences of Civil War figures and making events long past seem moving and compelling. His classes at Virginia Tech appealed to all majors and class levels, regularly teaching over one hundred students every semester for most of his time at Tech. Robertson can be said to be part of the university’s growth, especially in the nascent History Department, lending his skills to grow the department as well as the liberal arts broadly. The exhibit covers Robertson’s contribution to the Civil War Centennial Commission, as well as his life and legacy connected to Virginia Tech. I want to share my experience with the collections I used, as well as how I thought about this exhibit, Robertson, and Civil War history in general.

Ironically, I used very little of Dr. Robertson’s own collection (Ms1994-021 James I. Robertson Jr. Papers), and the making of this exhibit was a way for me to identify how the collection can be used, and if it can be expanded. I actually processed a new accession to the collection in 2022 which included his filing system for Virginia units in Confederate service and for Civil War history of Virginia’s counties and cities. In addition, this accession included records on Robertson’s involvement with battlefield preservation, and correspondence with fellow Civil War historians. However, if interested parties want to gain a better understanding of Robertson’s teaching and non-publishing life, they would be disappointed, as the collection is about two-thirds of book drafts for Robertson’s major publications in the 1990s and early 2000s. Luckily, SCUA holds a record group for the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies (RG 21/8 Virginia Center for Civil War Studies), the Civil War academic center that Robertson founded in 1999. This collection contains papers regarding Robertson’s founding and running of VCCWS through his retirement in 2011, as well as documents from outreach events from the 1970s through 2000s. It also has papers concerning Robertson’s tenure as chair of the History Department from 1969 to 1977. It is from this collection that I gathered most of the extant papers and information about Robertson’s professional life at Virginia Tech.

Two other collections proved useful as well. The J. Ambler Johnston Papers (Ms 1974-012) contains correspondence between Johnston and Robertson. Johnston, a 1904 Virginia Tech graduate and career architect, took special interest in Civil War history and communicated regularly with Robertson on the Civil War and on Virginia Tech matters before his death in 1974. Robertson’s biographical Vertical File also proved extremely useful, containing information about Robertson’s perception in the wider Virginia Tech, state, and national community. Helpfully, it also has an article on Robertson’s job as a football referee for the Atlantic Coast Conference, a part of his life that I really wanted information on. While these other collections helped build out the exhibit, they highlight the fact that Robertson’s own collection is severely lacking in information about his non-publishing academic and personal life. What is and isn’t in a collection is the choice of the archivist, the late Robertson, and his living relatives, but as a significant figure in Civil War historiography, public history, and Virginia Tech, we ought to have more information in a centralized collection about him.

James "Bud" Robertson in a referee's uniform.
9 February 1987. Bud Robertson in a referee’s uniform. Gene Dalton. Roanoke Times & World News.

Civil War Centennial Commission

Unfortunately, one of the most impactful episodes of Robertson’s life is essentially absent from the extant archival materials, beyond a few articles and mentions: his work on the Civil War Centennial Commission from 1961-1965. The Civil War Centennial Commission (CWCC) was active from 1957 to 1965, and sought to organize public commemorations of the war’s one-hundredth year. Robert Cook’s Troubled Commemoration (2007) is the current authoritative work on the subject, and focuses on the developments and hurdles faced by the Commission. Conceived by Civil War historians and amateur “buffs,” factions soon emerged in the national and state organizations on the best way to organize events and by what means. Professional historians clamored for a serious and academic remembrance, while business figures argued for more popularly accessible events. Sectional divisions became even more salient as Congressional leaders were appointed to the commission; Northern and Southerners clashed as debates over whose version of Civil War history would prevail. The state commissions, ostensibly under the purview of the national leadership, took their own approaches that varied between the sections.

Tensions came to a head in April 1961 when the CWCC planned to hold its fourth annual conference in Charleston, South Carolina to commemorate the beginning of fighting at Fort Sumter. Officials feared for the safety and inclusion of Madeline Williams, a Black woman on the New Jersey state commission. Segregationist commissioners worked to block Williams’ attendance, in concert with other efforts to block what they saw as revisionism to their “Lost Cause” understanding of the war. With the Commission teetering on failure, President John F. Kennedy stepped in, pressuring the CWCC to meet at desegregated federal military bases. Unwilling to acquiesce to Kennedy’s compromise, many of the staunch segregationists resigned, allowing professional historians to take more active leadership. Leading the revived CWCC were Professors Alan Nevins and James I. Robertson.

Cook characterizes Robertson generally as an effective and straightforward executive that had a genuine interest in telling a serious but appealing story of the Civil War to the American public. Even more important was the pairing of Nevins and Robertson: a Northerner and Southerner respectively, that seemingly balanced any sectional preference that detractors of the CWCC were eager to point out. The Commission’s fortunes soon improved, and Robertsons former professor Bell I. Wiley of Emory noted that he “works hard, maintains a cheerful outlook and wins friends for himself and the Commission by his open cordiality.”1 The new professionalism of the CWCC earned praise from Kennedy, resulting in an awards ceremony with the President in which Robertson was present. The image of both figures is on display in the exhibit.

President John F. Kennedy Accepts Civil War Centennial Commission Medallion
17 April 1962. AR7173-C. President John F. Kennedy Accepts Civil War Centennial Commission Medallion. Abbie Rowe. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. Public Domain.

Video of Dr. Robertson talking about the funeral of JFK.

Robertson was a product of his time however, and his appointment as the executive director under Alan Nevins was a strategic move to satisfy the worries of the segregationists who feared that the CWCC would become a tool of the Civil Rights Movement. While Cook describes Robertson as genuinely committed to positive civil rights change in the South (albeit at a gradual pace), he recognized that the success of the CWCC required working with conservative Southern commissioners and telegraphing some of their feelings into the national commission. Cook reflects one of these unfortunate moments, as Robertson generally chafed at a request by Nevins and Wiley to write African American soldiers as playing a larger role in winning the war for the Union in a student handbook.2 Despite a conservative historical outlook, Robertson’s work helped cement the centennial as an important historiographic moment. Although the public largely lost interest in the commemorative activities after 1961, the stabilization of the CWCC helped maintain academic and public interest in the Civil War through the twentieth century.

Time at Virginia Tech

I contend that Robertson’s time as a professor at Virginia Tech is his most important contribution to the public vitality of Civil War studies as well as the study of the liberal arts at Virginia Tech. Arriving in 1967, Robertson’s public popularity helped grow the fledgling History Department in its early years. His successful tenure as chair between 1968 and 1977 is indicated by the steady growth of bachelors and masters degrees awarded during that same time, as well as an expansion of history curriculum.3 This is all accomplished while Virginia Tech was, and remains, an engineering and science-focused institution. Robertson’s style of storytelling-teaching attracted history and non-history majors alike, and his wider popularity meant that his Civil War classes were usually attended by hundreds of students. One amusing document that is featured in the exhibit is an October 2000 memo from Associate Vice President Thim Corvin to Robertson concerning the total number of students that had attended Robertson’s classes. Corvin’s office presumably underestimated the number, prompting Robertson to respond with his own personal data that he spent a whole evening compiling, along with some remarks about the effectiveness of Corvin’s people. According to his data, Robertson had taught over twenty thousand students by the late 1990s. If we take that at face value, then by his retirement in 2011, Robertson likely taught over thirty thousand students during his time at Virginia Tech.4

Video of Dr. Robertson talking about teaching.

Robertson was a public historian before the term became vogue in history circles, seeking to appeal to broad audiences. In addition to his classes, he organized and led outreach classes and events beginning in the late 1970s. Although classes and lectures had long been part of offerings by Civil War Round Table organizations, Robertson’s partnering of academic prestige with public outreach meant that people who had passing interest in the war or wanted to take a specific course could do so through extension classes. Early organized lectures included the “Campaigning with Lee” series, as well as a featured lecture that Robertson delivered in Squires Student Center in 1979.5 By the early 1990s, steady attendance at these public events prompted Robertson to begin the Civil War Weekend conference in 1992 that continues to this day. Events like these bring the public into spaces with professional historians, enhancing everyday understanding of the Civil War, its meaning, and the historical agents that took part.

Legacies

Dr. Robertson passed away in November 2019, right as I was beginning my time as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech. At that point, I hadn’t decided on a career in Civil War public history and wasn’t really aware of the Civil War history significance of Virginia Tech. I was, however, aware of Dr. Robertson and the emotional connection that he fostered between himself and his students and the war they all studied. I recall meeting people at Civil War Weekends or on online forums that describe the loyalty that he inspired in students, even on a generational level. My father, Robert Abernethy, is a 1990 Virginia Tech graduate and took Dr. Robertson’s Civil War class. We have a signed copy of Robertson’s A.P. Hill: Story of a Confederate Warrior that my dad had signed while he was a student. His academic interest in the war was invigorated by Robertson, and he passed that passion onto me.

Robertson’s professional guidance influenced many historians today. Jonathan Noyalas, a Virginia Tech Masters alumnus who studied under Robertson, is head of the McCormick Civil War Institute at Shenandoah University. Patrick Schroeder, a Virginia Tech student who attended Robertson’s earliest classes, now serves as Historian at Appomattox Court House NHP. Chris Mackowski, author and editor-in-chief of Emerging Civil War noted in a tribute that Robertson instilled in him the confidence and reassurance that newer historians need to stake out on their own.6

Robertson’s work is felt directly at Special Collections and University Archives. His work to donate thousands of Civil War era books and manuscripts has elevated SCUA to one of the largest repositories of Civil War information in the United States. I always like to tell people why I study the Civil War. Plainly put, it is America’s most defining event. Even one hundred and sixty years later, Americans are living out the changes in government, politics, war, and society that the conflict produced. Like the war that he devoted his life to studying, Dr. James I. Robertson has left us a complex legacy, but one that has elevated our understanding and appreciation for the quintessential American experience.

Man with glasses
01 September 1986. Virginia Tech history professor, Dr. James Robertson. Bob Veltri. Imagebase. Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
  1. Robert Cook, Troubled Commemoration: The American Civil War Centennial, 1961–1965 (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2007), 218.
  2. Cook, 222.
  3. George G. Shackleford, “Department of History at VPI & SU,” RG 15/13 Department of History.
  4. “Memo to Thim Corvin,” RG 21/8 Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, Box 1, Folder “Student Solicitation.”
  5. “Gone With The Civil War: History that Historians Overlooked” Virginia Tech Union’s “The Not Your Average Lecture Series,” MS 1994-021 James I. Robertson Jr. Papers, Oversize Folder 1.
  6. “Tributes to James I. “Bud” Robertson Jr.,” Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, Accessed November 19, 2024. https://civilwar.vt.edu/tributes-to-james-i-bud-robertson-jr/.
Kalei Woodford Local/Regional History, Music

The Birthplace of Country Music 

This past October marked the twenty-sixth anniversary of the twin cities of Bristol, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee as the official birthplace of country music as declared by the U.S. government on October 12 1998. The resolution was co-sponsored by Rick Boucher, a Virginian Congressman from 1983-2011. He worked with the sponsor of the resolution, Congressman William L. Jenkins, to ensure the resolution passed both the House and Senate. In 1995, prior to this resolution, Boucher also supported the nominations of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family for the Presidential Medal of Freedom due to their contributions and influence in country music.

The Birthplace of Country Music museum in Bristol, Virginia celebrates not only the city being named as the birthplace of country music but also the event that awarded them the title of the birthplace of country music: the Bristol Sessions.

The Bristol Sessions occurred from July 25 through August 5 in 1927. Ralph Peer recorded seventy-six songs from nineteen performers. Johnny Cash, a legend of country music in his own right and husband of June Carter of the Carter Family, would later call the Bristol Sessions “the most important event in the history of country music.” The Bristol Sessions are often called the “big bang of country music” because of how the Bristol Sessions popularized country music and brought it into the American public.

Ralph Peer was a record producer employed by Victors Records. Prior to that, he was employed by OKeh Records where he recorded Fiddlin’ John Carson in 1923. After listening to a few early country music stars, Peer coined the term “hillbilly music” which later became known as country music.

What made the Bristol Sessions so successful was the superior quality recordings Peer made. Because the recordings captured both the music and singing better than before, the songs became an instant hit when they were released. In 1927, sound waves were recorded by the new Western Electric microphones and an acoustic phonograph. The acoustic phonograph allowed for more comfortable recording as well as remote recordings.

Previously, phonographs were stationary in a recording studio. Because of this, musicians and performers had to be strategically placed and constantly adjusted if an instrument or singer were too loud or too quiet. An interesting note about phonographs prior to 1925 is that string instruments were too quiet to be heard on the recordings. After 1925, the combination of better understanding of positioning, better phonographs, and new microphones, string instruments could be heard on the recordings. This was fortunate timing as string instruments are even now a cornerstone of country music.

Peer set up this new technology in an abandoned hat factory in the city of Bristol. In 1927, Bristol sat on the border of Virginia and Tennessee. Because of previous recordings by Peer, several local musicians in Bristol, including Jimmie Rodgers, now known as the father of country music, and the Carter Family, the first family of country music, showed up to Peer’s makeshift studio and recorded their songs. The Bristol Sessions catapulted country music into the forefront of American culture and cemented it as a professional genre of music.

 

References:

The U.S. Congress Resolution on the Birthplace of Country Music

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Special Collections & University Archives at Virginia Tech

  • The Carter/Cash Family Collection, Ms.2009.090, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
  • Box 34, Folder 141, Rick Boucher Papers 1968-2017 (bulk 1975-2011), Ms2021-048, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
  • Box 35, Folder 49, Rick Boucher Papers 1968-2017 (bulk 1975-2011), Ms2021-048, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
  • Box 8, Rick Boucher Papers 1968-2017 (bulk 1975-2011), Ms2021-048, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Virginia Tech Libraries

  • Gleason, Holly. Woman Walk the Line: How the Women in Country Music Changed Our Lives. 1st ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017.
  • Ken Burns: Country Music. Public Media Distribution, LLC, d/b/a PBS Distribution, 2019.
  • Wolfe, Charles, and Ted Olson. The Bristol Sessions : Writings about the Big Bang of Country Music. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland, 2005.
Amelia Verkerk University History, Women's History

Virginia Tech Cheerleading

This post was written by Student Library Assistant, Ella Winterling, sophomore at Virginia Tech studying Multimedia Journalism and Cinema. 

Cheerleading is perhaps one of the most distinctive symbols of school spirit, something that Virginia Tech is not short of. Cheerleading at Virginia Tech has been around for almost a century, and remains a key part of sporting events here at Virginia Tech. They lead the “Let’s Go Hokies” chant, followed by ushering the football players in with the Hokie flags along with “Enter Sandman”. As a part of the spirit squad, they cheer on events like football and basketball games with the responsibility of encouraging the crowd to support the Hokie athletes. 

Lane Stadium housed an exhibit during the 2009 to 2011 football seasons, dedicated to Virginia Tech Cheerleaders and their iconic uniforms. Many uniforms were collected and donated to the exhibit, which was organized by Sherwood “Sherry” Payne Quillen ‘71, a former Virginia Tech cheerleader. Now, the uniforms will now be housed in Special Collections and University Archives. 

In my position as student assistant, I was tasked with creating an inventory for these uniforms, storing them, and creating a resource record, so the materials can be searched for online (Ms 2024-078). The collection includes cheerleading uniforms from 1956 to 2012, with my personal favorite being the 1971 Women’s Uniform complete with hot pants and orange go-go boots. All the uniforms reflect the specific time and culture of when they were created and used.

Cheerleaders at VPI, 1933-1934

Cheerleading has been around at Virginia Tech for a long time, dating back to 1933 or even earlier. However, the team did not become co-ed till the 1955-1956 season. Patsy Steckler Bean was the first female Virginia Tech student to make it onto the team, and three women from Radford College, Bootie Bell Chewning, Merle Funk Perry, and Jeri Hagy Justice, joined the team as well. Their original uniform consisted of a poodle skirt, a Virginia Tech sweater, and black and white oxford shoes, and has since been replicated for a 2006 reunion. 

VPI Cheerleading Team, Bugle 1956

As cheerleading shifted, from leading cheers to a more athletic sport complete with flips and stunts, so did the uniforms. The late 1960s came with a change-up in the appearance of the Virginia Tech cheerleaders. Long pleated skirts, once a staple of the uniform, were traded in for shorter hems and more experimental styles. The 1968-1971 uniform, which was replicated for the 2009-2011 exhibit, includes a short jumper dress and cape, reminiscent of the show Star Trek, according to donor and former Virginia Tech Cheerleader, Sherry Quillen.

The 1970s came with even more changes, from bibbed shorts to neck-ties to hot pants and patent leather boots. Finally, the 80s ushered in the classic mini skirt and crop-top silhouette we associate with cheerleading today. 

While the history of cheerleading at Virginia Tech is not completely documented, photos, newspaper clippings, and alums like Sherry give us an idea of some of the spirit and importance of cheerleading at Virginia Tech.

In the 80s, Virginia Tech hosted the Universal Cheerleaders Association summer cheerleading camp multiple times. The training camp furthered skills in cheers, sideline, pyramids, and stunts while giving the cheerleaders daily evaluations. One year, actor and comedian Fred Willard even joined cheerleaders from across the country at the camp, filming for the show Real People that aired on NBC in the early 1980s.

A newspaper article from November 1983 commends the Virginia Tech cheerleaders as a crucial part in keeping the spirit up at Virginia tech games. Citing a 45-0 loss for Virginia Tech, the article highlights how the cheerleaders have to stay spirited. Whether winning or losing, cheerleaders are always there to impress the crowd with a stunt or lead a classic cheer, their job is incredibly important in terms of school spirit.

Other articles feature stories about the cheerleaders’ dedication and hard work. One article from 1981 says that “Cheering is not just getting up and yelling with a powerful voice.” It takes a lot of dedication and up to “12 to 15 hours of work each week”. 

In another article titled, “Cheers: Image May not Change, but Other Things Do,” a Virginia Tech cheerleader speaks about stereotypes for both male and female cheerleaders. She states the impression of male cheerleaders as “an incorrect impression”. She says “college cheerleading is harder and better than it’s ever been”, but that the image won’t change due to the portrayal of cheerleaders in the media. Cheerleading has always been a nuanced sport, not free from stereotypes and incorrect perceptions. However, the hard work and spirit of the sport has always been prevalent, especially at Virginia Tech.

The VT Cheerleading Uniform Collection (Ms 2024-078) highlights how the team was able to adapt and change along with different trends and culture throughout its history. The collection was put together and donated by Virginia Tech Cheerleading alumni, showcasing just how proud and committed the organization is, going beyond their years of college. While the uniforms may have changed, the spirit of the Virginia Tech Cheerleaders has remained the same. 

Resources:

  • RG 31/14/2
  • Photos via Historic Photograph Collection and Virginia Tech Bugles