History of modern technology
Statement of programs and library needs
Special Collections collects historical works documenting modern technology. The majority of the works collected are printed works, although efforts are also made to acquire manuscript materials (including letters, diaries, and the like).
Two important collections in this area are the Norfolk & Western Railway Company and Southern Railway Company Archives and the Archive of American Aerospace Exploration. The railroad collections also support Southwest Virginia and genealogical research.
The department is also particularly interested in the areas of gardening and horticulture, and historical works such as seed catalogs, seed packages, art, printed works, and manuscripts. The collection is still small, but growing.
Because the field is so broad, and the narrow areas of interest represented on the Virginia Tech campus are so numerous, Special Collections tries to maintain a balanced approach in purchases. As a consequence, none of the areas collected has the depth to support exhaustive research. As with all other areas of collecting in Special Collections, the assignment of a conspectus level must take into consideration the holdings of the rest of the library, particularly its reference works and secondary resources. In most areas of collecting, Special Collections emphasizes primary source materials and first editions, and does not collect many secondary or reference works.
I. Collection Areas
A. Area: History of Modern Technology
B. Classes and Levels
E 423,433,438-453 Slavery question Research S 1-7 Agricultural Periodicals: American English, French, German, other Basic S437 History of Agriculture, 18th and 19th centuries Study S 441-469 History of Agriculture by country: United States Study Western Europe Basic S 671-760 Farm Machinery and Engineering (historical aspects) Study SB Gardening and Horticulture Study T 1-3 Technological Periodicals: English Study French and German languages Basic T 18-19 History of Technology, 19th and 18th centuries, 20th Century to ca.1925 Study T 21 History of Technology, United States Study T 44-47 General works, to 1925; elementary and popular works Study T 400-999 Technological exhibitions Study TA 1001-1155 Transportation Engineering (historical aspects) Study TE 18-19 History of Roadmaking ca.1925 Study TE 144-145 General Works on Transportation, (18th and 19th centuries) Study TF 15-126 History of Railroads ca.1925 Research TJ 461-567 Steam Engines Study TK 5107-5865 Telegraphy (historical aspects) Study TL Aerospace Research
C. Chronology
1700-1925, in general. Aerospace, to 1980.
D. Geographic Guidelines
United States, Great Britain, Western Europe.
E. Languages
Primarily English, French, German.
F. Treatment
Early editions of primary and secondary sources. Eighteenth and nineteenth-century imprints are most heavily collected; twentieth-century imprints (unless from limited editions or small presses) are collected only up to ca. 1925. Technological encyclopedias and dictionaries, biographical studies, technical works, and works of travel and description illustrative of technological change are collected. Works on aerospace up to 1980 are collected.
G. Formats
Primarily printed works, but also manuscripts (including letters and diaries), photographs, and ephemeral. The aerospace and railroad collections are primarily manuscripts. The railroad archives contain many photographs that have been digitized.
H. Multiple Copies
Multiple copies are not usually collected.
II. Acquisitions Strategy
This field is supported largely trough the purchase of items from rare book dealers' catalogs and this will continue to be the strategy. As with other fields, however, donations are accepted. Both the railroad and aerospace collections are the result of significant donations.
III. Collection Notes
The University has a strong history of technology programs, and the collections of rare and antiquarian materials iare used by students and faculty in this area.
Special Collections houses the archives of the Norfolk & Western Railway Company and the Southern Railway Company. This collection is heavily used, including by researchers in Southwest Virginia history and genealogy, and represents one of the most important collections of its kind in American libraries.
The department also houses the Archive of American Aerospace Exploration, including the papers of Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., former director of the Johnson Spaceflight Center; Samuel Herrick, founder of the field of astrodynamics; and Michael Collins, astronaut on the Gemini X and Apollo XI flights.
Revised 11, 2000
