Virginia Tech Special Collections houses and provides access to more than 1800 manuscript collections and over 50,000 books, along with maps, photographs, oral histories, and other materials of historical and scholarly interest. Importantly, Special Collections is also the home of Tech’s University Archives. In addition to the Archives, we collect in a variety of areas, chiefly, American Civil War, History of Food and Drink, Science and Technology, Women and Architecture (we are the home of the International Archives of Women in Architecture or IAWA), Local and Regional studies, and Speculative Fiction.
The Collection is located on the first floor of Newman Library on the Virginia Tech campus and is open to everyone during our regular hours, Monday through Friday from 9AM to 5PM. No appointment is needed to visit! We also are engaged in an active program of instruction for Virginia Tech students, so if you are teaching a class here and would like to bring in your class, let us know!
This blog was started to highlight both new collections and those that have been here for some time, to share the inner workings of Special Collections and the activities sponsored by the department with an interested public. We also want to hear from YOU! Feel free to contact us with questions, comments, requests, or suggestions. You can also see more about the Collection on our website.