The Named/Individual Photograph Collections include images from
alumni and former faculty and staff, or individuals with ties to campus and the New River
Valley. Collections (c.1890-present) depict campus life and events, railroad history,
agricultural extension research, Blacksburg and surrounding areas, and some local
families.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply.
Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use
of these materials. Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use
can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for
publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication .
Please contact Special Collections and University Archives ( specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit
a completed form.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information:
[image,] [named collection], Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech,
Blacksburg, Va.
Source of Acquisition
Named/Individual Photograph Collections consist primarily of donations to the Special
Collections and University Archives over time.
Processing Information
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Named/Individual Photograph
Collections was completed prior to January 2000. Additional processing and description was
completed in May 2017 and March 2020.
Each of the Named/Individual Photograph Collections has a description in the "Contents
List" below. The majority of the collections, however, are from alumni and former faculty
and staff, or individuals with ties to campus and the New River Valley. Collections depict
campus life and events, railroad history, agricultural extension research, Blacksburg and
surrounding areas, and some local families.
In most cases, collections are named for the collector/creator or based on the subject
matter.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by named collection. Each named collection listed
has at least one photograph; some subjects have multiple folders or boxes.
Football player and member of 1910
class. Collection includes images of VPI campus, cadets, 1909 sports team; also a photo
of the home that served the Thanksgiving meal which coined the term Virginia Tech
"Gobblers."
Ms1974-003
BLACK FAMILY/KENT FAMILY/APPERSON FAMILY COLLECTIONS:
Early Blacksburg families,
connected by marriage. Collection includes photographs of Germanicus Kent, Aratus Kent,
Dr. Kent Black, and unidentified men standing in Keister's Store in
Blacksburg.
Ms1982-011
BRAUER, RUDOLPH CARL
Class of 1915. Collection consists
of forty-five photographs of campus life, 1911-15, and eight photos taken during the
Golden Jubilee, 1922.
Ms1991-048
BURCHARD, CHARLES
Founding dean of the College of
Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech (1964-79). Three color snapshots of
Chas. Burchard and his wife, Debbie, ca. 1990.
CENTENNIAL COLLECTION (VPI, 1972)
This collection contains mounted
photographs used in a display for the 1972 VPI Centennial celebration. Photos include:
chemistry classroom (1900); first five presidents of Virginia Tech; VAMC cadet band;
Preston Olin building; two football players (1904); Cowgill Hall; and cadets on the
drill field (1904). Unmounted copies of most of these photographs can be found in the
general photograph collection under specific subjects.
CORPS OF CADETS PHOTOGRAPHS, ca. 1927-28
Six photographs of the VPI Corps of
Cadets from 1927 or 1928 in various stages of decorum. Includes photographs of the Corps
marching in formation and in costume for the Rat Parade, and the condition of the
barracks after Class Night.
CROSS, WILLIAM S. JR
Class of 1941. Collections consist
of photographs of the VPI campus and students in 1941. Also includes resumes and
photographs of 1941 graduates in the VPI industrial engineering department.
DALTON, JACK
Instructor in English, 1930-34.
Collection contains thirty-four snapshots and three 8x10 photos of campus life and
environs, 1924-25.
DAWLEY, WILLIAM SAMUEL
Attended VPI from 1910 to 1912.
Collection consists of four mounted photographs of cadets and football team, ca.
1910-12.
DRAKE, I. N.
Railroad historian. Collection
includes photographs of various railroad stations in Virginia.
GARNETT, WILLIAM ROANE
Class of 1922. Collection contains
fifty-three photographs of corps activities, campus views, and 1922
commencement.
GOODLOE, WILLIAM TAVENOR
Class of 1923. Collection consists
of eight photographs of students dressed for Rat parade, Rat May Day, and Virginia Tech
College Six Orchestra; all taken in 1921.
HALE, CHARLES RAYMOND, SR.
Use Restrictions
The images in the collection are copies of originals. Special Collections cannot grant
permission for publication or exhibit use.
Folder includes copies of photographs from Hale's time working for Norfolk &
Western Railroad.
HAMMERSLEY, COL. E. HOWARD JR. (1915-1992)
Native of Roanoke, Virginia, and
photographer for the Roanoke Times from 1938 until his retirement in 1980. Served in the
U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945. Collection consists of 501 negatives of
photographs and slides (1936-78) taken by Hammersley of Virginia Tech football games
(including "Turkey Day Classics") and the Corps of Cadets, and one reel of 70mm Hulcher
film of VPI football.
HANNAS, ANNA
Superintendent of the campus
Infirmary from 1906 to 1945. Collection includes: fifty-six photos of individual cadets;
thirty-one photos of unidentified individuals; seventeen photos of groups; forty-nine
photos of student activities including sham battles, minstrels, and corps of cadets;
Blacksburg photos including Yellow Sulphur Springs Hotel, Earhart's cave on Heth
property; Palmer's gate; and a flood in back of William Preston Hotel. Photographs were
taken between 1906 to 1945.
HOMES, W. A. [William Albert]
Class of 1910. Collection consists
of 8 mounted photographs and one unmounted strip of photographs showing cadet life c.
1906-09, including barrracks, plant, Aunt Nellie's Cave, and paddling.
JACKSON, HASWELL
Class of 1935. Collection consists
of 19 photographs of a Rat initiation parade (1931) and a football game half-time cadet
drill (1937 or 1938).
JONES, ROBERT S.
Class of 1928. Collection includes
fifty-seven photographs of football games, campus scenes, and rat parades,
1924-27.
LANCASTER, LUCY LEE
Class of 1925 and librarian,
1925-1975, at Virginia Tech. This collection contains approximately forty photographs of
Blacksburg and Montgomery County, Virginia, people and places. Includes photos of the
construction of Montgomery Tunnels. Slides of Lancaster's various international travels
can be found with her personal papers (Ms82-019).
LESTER, DOUGLAS
Owner of Lester's Photo Shop in
Christiansburg, Virginia. Collection consists of approximately 100 historical
photographs of Virginia Tech, including buildings, corps of cadets, campus views, and
sports. Most of the photos were taken by Henry Harris Hill in the early 1900s (Hill was
a 1907 graduate of VPI and a member of the Chemistry faculty from 1907 to 1950.) Other
copies of many of these images can be found in the general photograph collection under
specific subjects.
MCCOWN, ALBERT TAYLOR
VPI alumnus. Collection consists of
postcards of the Blacksburg railroad station, Mountain Lake, and VPI, ca. 1940s or
1950s. VPI photos include: (old) library, McBryde Building (Machinery Hall), Barracks
No. 1, stock barns, Barracks No. 1 and 2; Alumni Gate, and battalion
formation.
MALLORY, WALTER L.
Class of 1908. This collection of
five photographs (1908) of the corps, football teams, and VPI farm, was divided by
subject into the general photograph collection.
MASSEY, ARTHUR BALLARD
Professor of Biology, 1918-1959.
Collection includes eighty photographs (1905-1950) of campus trees (with an identifying
list), four photos of various campus scenes, and eight pictures of the cutting of the
Mall through campus (1950).
MILLER, EDWARD CAMPBELL
VPI Business Manager, 1922-1944.
Collection contains seven photographs of campus scenes of cadets in formation and
marching.
MURRILL, ASHBY
Class of 1901. Collection contains
three photographs: Shops class (1892/93), William A. Murrill, P.S. Murill.
NORFOLK AND WESTERN RAILWAY TRAIN WRECK IN WEST VIRGINIA, 1937.
Eighteen photographs with negatives
of the wreck of a Norfolk and Western Railway train in Maybeury, West Virginia, in
1937.
PARSONS, BERNARD L. (1922-1990)
Professor of Agricultural
Engineering from 1947 to 1985. Photographs gathered by Parsons and other members of the
Agricultural Engineering faculty of cornfields, meadow strips, terraced fields,
orchards, highway erosion and wildlife borders taken by the Soil Conservation Service.
Also includes photographs from the 1920s of farm, farmland, farm machinery and
buildings, and of the students and facilities at the Virginia Tech Agricultural
Engineering Department.
PEALE, WALTER O.
Class of 1904. This collection
contains seventeen small portrait shots of unidentified students (cadets), ca.
1904.
PORTER, J. CARLTON
Class of 1934. This collection
contains approximately 350 photographs of campus scenes, the corps of cadets, and
sports.
ROANOKE TIMES AND WORLD-NEWS . NEW RIVER VALLEY
PHOTOGRAPHS (see also Oversize Box 1 and Oversize Box 2)
Mounted photographs used for New
River Valley Exhibit by Roanoke Times and World-News.
Includes historical photos of Blacksburg, Montgomery County, and other place in the New
River Valley.
ROBESON, FRANK LEIGH
Class of 1904; taught Mathematics
and Drawing, 1904-13; Professor of Physics, 1913-54. Collection includes thirteen
photographs of Blacksburg scenes, ca. 1904.
ROBESON, MARY MATTHEWS
Wife of Frank L. Robeson, Professor
of Physics at VPI. Collection consists of thirty photographs of campus buildings and
three of Main Street, Blacksburg, 1900-18.
SAUNDERS, CARTER TEMPLE
Class of 1904. Collection includes
nine photographs of cadets and football teams in the early 1900s.
SCHOENE, WILLIAM J.
Professor of Entomology, 1913-52.
Collection consists of two photographs that include Schoene: first Cumberland-Shenandoah
Fruit Conference (20 July 1928) and Bee Keeper's Meeting (no date).
SLAYTON, CLARENCE H.
Class of 1910. Appr. 25 negatives
of groups, Virginia Tech buildings and landscapes, and individuals, ca.
1908-10.
SMYTH, ELLISON A.
Professor of Biology, 1891-1925;
Dean of the faculty, 1903-06; and Dean of Department of Applied Sciences, 1916-20.
Collection contains eight photographs of campus scenes and laboratory rooms, 1890s. See
also Ellison A. Smyth, Jr. Papers, Ms81-098 and Ellison A. Smyth, Jr. Glass Slide
Collection.
VAWTER, CHARLES ERASTUS
Professor of Physics, 1898-1917.
Collection consists of portrait shots of Vawter and other unidentified
individuals.
WALLER, JAMES AUGUSTUS
Class of 1919; Agricultural
Engineer, Agricultural Extension Divsion, 1923-56; Professor of Agricultural
Engineering, 1956-58. This collection of thirty-five photographs and postcards of corps
and campus scenes, 1914-17, was divided by subject into the general photograph
collection.
WAUGH, DAN BLAIR
Attended VPI from 1907-10.
Collection consists of photocopies of early photographs of the campus (ca.
1907-11).