Special Collections and University Archives at Lindsay-Montague Hall is temporarily closed.
The act to incorporate the Normal and Collegiate Institute and provide for the support of the same
Virginia Acts of Assembly, 1882
Virginia State University was founded on March 6, 1882, when the legislature passed a bill to charter the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. Delegate Alfred W. Harris, a Black attorney who represented Dinwiddie County in the General Assembly, sponsored the bill.
Virginia State University's Special Collections and University Archives was not formally established until 1976, but the department has its origins in the library's "Negro Room," established in the 1930's.
The Special Collections and University Archives now encompass three key components: Rare Books, Manuscripts, and University Archives. Initially focused on books authored by African Americans, the Rare Books collection has since broadened its scope to include a diverse range of titles. This collection mainly aims to gather local histories of the Southside area of Virginia, the history of Black colleges and works by VSU faculty and alumni. For assistance locating a specific book within the Special Collections, please refer to the Rare and Special Collections Books tab.
Several manuscript collections document the history of African Americans in Virginia dating back to 1772. Notable collections include the Luther Porter Jackson Family Papers, the Colson-Hill Family Papers, the Virginia Teachers Association Records, and the Prince Edward County (VA) Free School Records, with most documents originating from the 1880s. For more information on these and other manuscripts in our holdings, please refer to the Manuscript Collections tab.
The University Archives contains the official records mandated by the Virginia Public Records Act [§ 42.1-76]. These records, dating back to 1883, are organized into various groups and include minutes of the Board of Visitors, annual reports, and documents detailing students' experiences at the University since its inception.
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From left to right (front row): Mary Branch, Anna Lindsay, Edna Colson, Edwina Wright, Johnella Frazer (Jackson), and Nannie Nichols
From left to right (back row): Eva Conner, Evie Carpenter (Spencer), and Odelle Green.
Virginia State University was founded on March 6, 1882, when the Virginia legislature passed a bill to charter the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. Delegate Alfred William Harris, a Black attorney representing Dinwiddie County in the General Assembly, sponsored the bill. A hostile lawsuit delayed opening day for nineteen months until October 1, 1883. In 1902, the legislature revised the charter act to curtail the collegiate program and to change the name to Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute. In 1920, the land-grant program for Blacks was moved from a private school, Hampton Institute, where it had been since 1872, to Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute. In 1923, the college program was restored, and the name changed in 1930 to Virginia State College for Negroes. A two-year branch college was established in Norfolk in 1944; the Norfolk division became a four-year college in 1956 and gained independence as Norfolk State College in 1969. The parent school was renamed Virginia State College in 1946 and, later, Virginia State University in 1979.
In its first academic year, 1883-84, the University had 126 students and seven faculty, all Black; one building, 33 acres, a 200-book library, and a $20,000 budget. In 1996, the University, which is fully integrated, had a student body of nearly 4,000, a full-time faculty of approximately 200, a library containing 211,819 volumes and 223,462 microfilm and non-print items, a 236-acre campus and a 416-acre farm, more than 50 buildings (including 15 dormitories and 16 classroom buildings), and an annual budget of $55,310,451 in operating appropriations exclusive of capital outlay. Expenses have increased since the mid-1880s when tuition was $3.35 and room and board was $20.00.
The University is situated in Chesterfield County at Ettrick on a bluff across the Appomattox River from the city of Petersburg. It is accessible via Interstate Highways 95 and 85, which converge in Petersburg. The University is only two and a half hours from Washington, DC, to the north, the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, area to the southwest, and Charlottesville, VA, to the northwest.
Virginia State University has a long history of outstanding faculty and administration. The first head to bear the title of President, John Mercer Langston, was one of the most widely revered Blacks of his day; he was the first Black elected to the United States Congress from Virginia (1888), and he was the great uncle of the famed writer Langston Hughes. From 1888 to 1968, four presidents -- James H. Johnston, Sr., John M. Gandy, Luther H. Foster, and Robert P. Daniel -- each serving an average of twenty years, aided the school to overcome adversity and forge forward. The next fifty-five years, 1968-2023, saw nine more presidents -- James F. Tucker, Wendell P. Russell, Walker H. Quarles, Jr., Thomas M. Law, Wilbert Greenfield, Wesley Cornelious McClure, Eddie N. Moore, Keith T. Miller, and Makola M. Abdullah. In February 2016, Makola M. Abdullah became the fourteenth President of Virginia State University.
Virginia State University looks forward to a new tomorrow of opportunities, continuing into a second century of excellence. A few of the significant achievements of the first century include the gaining University status, the move to incorporate doctoral programs, a more secure status for Cooperative Extension, the revitalization of the agricultural and land-grant programs, and the first steps toward professional schools in the fields of social work and engineering technology. With its able administration and outstanding faculty, Virginia State University, the regional University for Southside Virginia, envisions an exciting future to transcend its illustrious past.
