Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

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.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Records of the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History, RG 38/1, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Source of Acquisition

The collection was transferred to Special Collections and University Archives in 2019.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Records of the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History was completed in October 2019.

Administrative Note

The Virginia Museum of Natural History is, as its title suggests, the official state natural history museum, founded in 1984 and located in Martinsville, Virginia. A branch of the museum, the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History opened in April 1990 on the Blacksburg campus of Virginia Tech, in connection with Earth Week. In July 1991, it absorbed the Virginia Tech Center for Systematic Collections, which was influential in bringing the branch to fruition, and combined the many natural history collections throughout campus. Directors included Llyn Sharp, Susan C. Eriksson, and founding director Michael Kosztarab. The branch closed in 2004.

Scope and Content

This collection conains the records of the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History. Scrapbooks include newspaper articles, pictures, and flyers all related to the museum and its activities and exhibits. The collection also includes many pictures, slides, brochures, posters, and even a book related to the museum and the people involved.

This collection is made up of nine series:

Series I: Scrapbooks includes files transferred from scrapbook binders that were kept to preserve records from the museum, namely newspaper articles and pictures. The binders went from the year 1990 to around 2003. It also includes Save Our Streams scrapbooks (which include newspaper articles, informational flyers, and photos about saving the streams of the New River Valley) from another program within the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History. The program began in 1992.

Series II: MINTS is further divided into three sub-series: MINTS Scrapbooks, Workshop Notebook, and MINTS VHS tapes. "MINTS" stands for "Museum Inquiry-based Natural history guides for TeacherS." More information on all of the sub-series can be found in the series' notes.

Series III: Prints and Slides are a collection of various pictures and slides that have been removed from binders. This series contains 5 separate sub-series: People and Events Slides and Prints, School Photos, Exhibit Prints, MISC Prints and Slides, and Slide Tray. More information on all of the sub-series can be found in the series' notes.

Series IV: Publications and Brochures contains some extra information from the museum that details instructions on how it should be run, extra booklets, and a book. There's a training manual binder, as well as an instructional notebook that details information about the Education Resource Center and what in the museum is open to the public to look at. There's a visitor register, which is just made up of sign-in pages for visitors to the museum from 1997 to 2003. There's also a booklet from 1990 about childhood nature education, a brochure from 1991 about the Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy, and a booklet from 1992 about "mapping the school grounds." Lastly, there's a book titled Transylvanian Roots; The True Life Adventures of a Hungarian American by Michael Kosztarab, which was published in 1997. The book is about his "two escapes from the Soviets, the smuggling of his seven-month-old daughter out of Communist Hungary, his incarceration by the Nazis for helping the Jews in 1944, and his welcome to the United States as not just a refugee but as a scholar/scientist."

Series V: Programs has information about all of the programs and activities in the museum from about 1990 to 1996. It's divided into several sub-series because they were already pre-divided and there was no reason to change their organization. More information on all of the sub-series can be found in the series' notes.

Series VI: Posters is an oversized box that contains a VMNH "Explore Natural History" poster, a print of the museum building at Virginia Tech, a MINTS book poster, and another smaller poster of a picture from one of the museum exhibits.

Arrangement

Series I: Scrapbooks, 1990-2003 Series II: MINTS, 1990, 1992-1999, undated Series III: Prints and Slides, 1984, 1987, 1989-2002, undated Series IV: Publications and Brochures, 1990-1993, 1996-2003, undated Series V: Programs, 1983, 1990-1996, undated Series VI: Posters, undated

Separated Material

The publication entitled "Model inquiries into nature in the schoolyard" has been separated to the Rare Books Collection.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Museums
• University Archives
• University History
• Virginia Museum of Natural History
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1970-)
• Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History
• Virginia, Southwest

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the Records of the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your- work/public-domain/cc0/ ).