University seals and logos

The university has a lot of ways to identify itself quickly: a university shield and seal, a university logo and athletic logo, a motto (Ut Prosim,“That I May Serve”), a tagline (“Invent the Future”), and many other icons that signify who we are. But these have all changed over the years, along with the official … Continue reading University seals and logos

Less Than the Sum of Its Parts: the W. Dale Parker Papers

Behind virtually any collection of personal papers is an ego, a voice saying, I was here. I mattered. Such collections can be indispensable resources in chronicling the lives of the famous and infamous or in offering insights into a particular time or topic. While history may greatly benefit from these collections, however, it is often … Continue reading Less Than the Sum of Its Parts: the W. Dale Parker Papers

Where the Rubber (Historical Collection) Meets the Road (Monument)?

One of the first collections we received after I started at Special Collections in 2009 was that of a Union private from Pennsylvania, Charles F. McKenna. (Acquisitions and Processing Archivist Kira here, this week–which I’m only pointing out because this post is about a collection, but also some connections came full circle for me last … Continue reading Where the Rubber (Historical Collection) Meets the Road (Monument)?

Illustrations from a Magnificent Character

Recently added online are a collection of illustrations by Lucy Herndon Crockett, a successful author and illustrator from Southwest Virginias Smyth county. Lucy authored nine books during her lifetime, the most well-known being The Magnificent Bastards in 1954, about her experiences with the U.S. Marine Corps in the South Pacific during World War II. In … Continue reading Illustrations from a Magnificent Character

Freiheit fur Angela Davis . . . and So Much More: The Black History Pamphlet Collection

                                  Many times over the course of this blog either I or one of my colleagues has written about an aspect of the job of being an archivist that can best be described as “discovery.” Typically, we find something … Continue reading Freiheit fur Angela Davis . . . and So Much More: The Black History Pamphlet Collection

Mary Sinton Leitch & Two-Degrees of Sherwood Anderson

Last time I wrote a post, it was on Sherwood Anderson and our newly-acquired copy of The Cornfields, one of Anderson’s poems which was separately printed. In that post, I mentioned a collection relating to Mary Sinton Leitch, which I had recently processed and was indirectlyconnected to Anderson.This time around, I thought I would talk … Continue reading Mary Sinton Leitch & Two-Degrees of Sherwood Anderson

From the First Ladys Table: Dining with Cora Bolton McBryde

  Not much is known about the early first ladies of Virginia Tech, but we can learn more about Cora Bolton McBryde through recent gifts to Special Collections from Janet Watson Barnhill. These gifts include Coras silver Tiffany stirring spoon, which, Mrs. Barnhill notes, is engraved and worn from stirring puddings; a tin Kreamer Turks … Continue reading From the First Ladys Table: Dining with Cora Bolton McBryde

The Words of a Massachusetts Ambulance Driver

Sometimes figuring out a subject for the blog is surprisingly challenging. I like to look at what I’ve done lately, but a lot of that amounts to committee work, organizing incoming materials, and cleaning up data for the catalog and archival management software. And the end of the semester/year is my usual “catch up” time … Continue reading The Words of a Massachusetts Ambulance Driver

Capturing Virginia Tech’s past through VT Stories

Althoughwe have a lot of important records and collections in the university archives that document Virginia Tech’s past, there are still countless stories, traditions and experiences that havenever beenrecorded. But these personal stories are just as important to understanding our history as any document from the President’s office or the Office of Student Affairs. And … Continue reading Capturing Virginia Tech’s past through VT Stories

American Song: A Sign of the Times

Did you hear? (Of course, you did.) Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature a few weeks ago. As the Nobel committee wrote, it awarded the prize to Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” That is a mighty step up for an already valued and valuable tradition … Continue reading American Song: A Sign of the Times