Old Dominion University Libraries

Special
Collections:
Archives

The University Archives

The University Archives serve as the corporate memory of Old Dominion University. Its principal function is to provide a secure repository for the university's historically significant records, including the records of the Board of Visitors; the office files of former presidents, vice-presidents, deans and department chairpersons; and collections of personal papers donated by faculty, administrative officers and members of the Board.

Dating from 1930 to the present, the University Archives contains administrative publications, including yearbooks, handbooks, course catalogues, schedules, directories, and annual reports. Departmental papers include newsletters, brochures, some faculty publications and athletic programs.

In addition, the Archives includes student, faculty, staff and alumni publications; a scrapbook collection of newspaper clippings related to the university; a photograph collection that provides a fascinating panorama of the school's history; an oral history collection featuring transcripts and/or audio recordings of interviews with members of the university community; and a copy of every doctoral dissertation and master's thesis written by an Old Dominion University graduate student.

The collections may be used by present officers of the university, faculty, staff, students, alumni and the general public.

The University Archives is located within Special Collections in the Old Dominion University Perry Library.

Researchers are urged to call ahead because permission from the University Librarian may be required to look through some of the material.  Only a portion of University Archives holdings are listed below. For more information call (757) 683-4483 or e-mail special@www.lib.odu.edu.

Donating and Transferring Your Papers to the University Archives
Faculty and staff are encouraged to donate their papers to the University Archives for the benefit of future researchers. The Special Collections Librarian can advise individuals in preparing their personal papers for transfer, completing a deed of gift, and arranging the physical transfer of the papers.  Further information is available in the University Archives Collection Development Policy and by contacting the Special Collections Librarian (syaco@odu.edu 757 683-4483).

University Archives Record Groups

Material in the University Archives is organized into Record Groups that mirror the organizational structure of the University and its administrative and academic departments.

RG 1

Board of Visitors

RG 2

Office of the President

RG 3

University Senate

RG 4

Executive Vice President (defunct)

RG 5

Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

RG 6

Office of the Vice President for Institutional Advancement

RG 7

Executive Director Of Student Affairs And Dean Of Students

RG 8

Office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance

RG 10

University Libraries

RG 15

Honors College

RG 16

Office of Graduate Studies

RG 17

School of Arts & Letters

RG 18

School of Business Administration

RG 19

Darden College of Education

RG 20

College of Engineering and Technology

RG 21

School of General Studies (defunct)

RG 22

College of Sciences

RG 23

School of Continuing Studies (defunct)

RG 24

College of Health Sciences

RG 30

University Poster Collection

RG 32

University Photographs Collection

RG 33

Norfolk Division and Old Dominion College Records

RG 36

Faculty and Staff Organizations

RG 37

Student Organizations

RG 39

Student/Alumni Collections

RG 40

Virginia Tidewater Consortium for Continuing Higher Ed.

RG 41

Awards, University and College

Collections:

RG 1 Board of Visitors

More information about the history of the board and its functions, current membership, and minutes of past meetings from 1994 to the present is available on Board of Visitors' website .

RG 1-1A Office files of the Board.
Contains office files of the Board, including correspondence, resolutions, minutes of meetings, committee records, proceedings, and agendas. Partial inventory (1947-1994) available in PDF format.

RG 1-1B1 Francis Crenshaw (1922-1975).
Member of Old Dominion University's Board of Visitors (1968-1976). Material relates to his service as member and rector of the Board. Also contains papers of his father, Captain Russell Crenshaw (1886-1975), that chiefly relate to his service in the navy during World War II.

RG 1-1B2 James A. Howard (1918-1996).
Member of the Board of Visitors of Old Dominion University (1962-1971) and the Board of Directors of the Old Dominion University Intercollegiate Foundation. Consists of papers accumulated during his service on these two boards. Noteworthy material includes his service on the Board of Visitors' Building and Grounds Committee, the Child Study Clinic, dormitories, the President's home, the Physical Education Building, speaker regulations, and student disturbances.

RG 1-1B3 A. K. Scribner (1899-1976).
Alison Kenneth Scribner was a member of the first Board of Visitors of Old Dominion College and later Old Dominion University, from 1962-1969. Contains material related to his tenure on the board, his work with civic organizations and his professional career in manufacturing.

RG 1-1B4 Earl T. Gresham, Jr.
Served on Board of Visitors advisory board. Small collection relates primarily to library fund drives.

RG 1- 1B5 Dr. J. Henry McCoy, Jr.
Material primarily relates to McCoy's service on the Old Dominion University Board of Visitors (1968-1976) and his relationship with Tidewater Community College.

RG 2 Office of the President

Includes the office and personal files of former Presidents as well as departments reporting to the President:

RG 2-8 Athletics

RG 2- 8B1 The Papers of Arthur "Bud" Metheny
Coach Metheny was the head baseball coach from 1948-1980 and head basketball coach from 1948-1965. He was also the Athletic Director at Old Dominion from 1963-1970. Materials in the archives consist mainly of baseball and basketball score books, individual and team statistics, team rosters, brochures, newspaper clippings, and photographs. There is also material on the 1965 NATO Games.

RG 3 University Senate

Papers include:

RG 3-1A University/Faculty Senate Office files
Partial inventory (1969-1980) available in PDF format.

RG 3-1A Student Publications Committee of the University Senate
Dated 1965- 1977, this small collection documents the functioning of a committee that oversaw the student newspaper, yearbook, other publications including Mace and Crown, Gadfly, Troubador, and Zeitgeist. Includes material on the University's handling of the publication a controversial poem in the Gadfly and questions of censorship, academic freedom and professor Leland Peterson.

RG 3-4A Student Caucus of the University Senate (defunct)
Partial inventory (1968-1979) available in PDF format.

RG 3-5A Faculty Caucus of the University Senate
Partial inventory (1975-1976) available in PDF format.

RG 4 Executive Vice President (defunct)

RG 4-1A Office files of Harold Eickhoff
Partial inventory (1971-1978) available in PDF format.

RG 5 Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Papers include:

RG 5-1A1 SACS/COC Accreditation
Partial inventory (1971-2004) available in PDF format.

RG 5-3A Office of the Associate Provost for Research and Sponsored Programs
Partial inventory (ca 1958-1975) available in PDF format.

RG 5-11A University College

RG 5-18A Institutional Research and Assessment (previously Institutional Planning)
Partial inventory (1975-1977) available in PDF format.

RG 5-20A University Registrar

RG 6 Office of the Vice President for Institutional Advancement

Papers include:

RG 6-1A Director's files
Partial inventory (1968-1977) available in PDF format.

RG 6-2A Alumni Relations and Government Relations
Partial inventory (1973-1978) available in PDF format.

RG 6-3A University Relations

RG 6-4B Dorothy Lippincott
An Old Dominion University administrator, her collection includes the records of Town-N-Gown, a group dedicated to establishing cooperation between the university, the city, and the military.

RG 6-4E ODU Dialogue radio broadcasts
Partial inventory (1979) available in PDF format.

RG 6-7A2 Dean of Admissions
Partial inventory (1964-1972) available in PDF format.

RG 6-7B1 James R. Vaillancourt
Partial inventory (1973-1978) available in PDF format.

 

RG 7 Executive Director Of Student Affairs And Dean Of Students

Includes papers for:

RG 8 Office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance

Contains material generated by the VP for Administration and Finance and subordinate departments:

RG 10 University Library Collection

Contains material related to the University Library, University Archives and its committees and departments. Also contains material related to Friends of the Library and the Virginia Tidewater Consortium. Material dates from 1938 to present.

RG 10-4B1 Dr. James Sweeney
This collection includes material related to Old Dominion University and Hampton Roads history collected by Dr. James R. Sweeney, associate professor of history and former University Archivist. Included are correspondence, photos, news clippings, and oral history materials, as well as Sweeney’s notes and drafts for a book he wrote in 1980 on ODU history. ODU history materials date as far back as the 1920s; local history material dates from 1905.

RG 16 Office of Graduate Studies

Papers include:

RG 17 School of Arts and Letters

Papers include:

RG 17-1A Dean’s office files
Partial inventory (1956-1977) available in PDF format.

RG 17-2B1 The Papers of Alice R. Jaffe
Includes assorted reports, newspaper articles and correspondence, etc. relating to Hampton Roads history and Old Dominion University's early history as Norfolk Division of William and Mary College. Contains material from Jaffe's family including her husband, journalist Louis I. Jaffe, her father, Col. Henry Rice and ancestor, Captain Samuel Davis. See the Guide to local history for more detail.

RG 17-2B2 The Papers of Everett Parker Lesley, Jr.
Served as Art Professor at Old Dominion University, 1959 - 1979, and served as co-chairman of the Art Department, 1968 - 1969. He authored one art-historical handbook for the Norfolk Museum of Art and Science (Chrysler Museum), one book, two magazine articles and other publications. Collection consists of a large number of photo-slides related to his expertise in Byzantine Art and Architecture, also consists of printed material, documentation of travels abroad, correspondence and photographs.

RG 17-3A1 Literary Festival Collection
This collection contains material from the Poetry Jam and first Literary Festival in 1978 and chronicles the annual Literary Festival onwards to the present day. Additional material is added yearly. Materials consist of original and digitized brochures, flyers, and promotional documents; schedules; news clippings; photos; and original and digitized video, as available.

RG17-3B2 Caroline Heath Tunstall
This collection contains materials pertinent to the life and career of Caroline Heath Tunstall, an English professor at Old Dominion College. Included in this collection are high school yearbooks, negatives of photographs, various certificates,  newspaper clippings of  book reviews as well as a scrapbook, correspondence, awards, graduate work, syllabi and other papers used by Ms. Tunstall as a professor. Particularly notable are the 1925 and 1926 photographs and yearbooks from the Norfolk Tutoring School. The collection dates from 1925 to the mid-1970s.

RG 17-3B4 Elizabeth Ann Burton
The collection includes typed and handwritten drafts of poetry written by Elizabeth Ann Burton, mostly from the late 1980s.  Included are the original manuscripts for Burton’s published book of poetry Waiting for the Messiah, as well as the draft of a second book, which was never published.  Letters from Elizabeth Burton to Mildred Guilds Peele, donator of the collection, as well as letters written after Burton’s death by Mildred Peele to L. S. Loomer, a potential publisher of Elizabeth Burton’s poetry, and correspondence between Burton’s mother and Peele. 

RG 17-4A Foreign Languages and Literatures Department
Partial inventory (1971-1974) available in PDF format.

RG 17-4B1 W. Herman Bell
Walter Herman Bell was the Director of Counseling and professor of Counseling 1957-1967 and French, 1967-1970. Dr. and Mrs. Bell’s were friends with Herbert Cecil Smith and his wife, labeled. Smith was a British ornithologist and naturalist who donated a collection of bones and skins of animals native to Burma to Old Dominion College. This small collection includes 1962 correspondence related to this gift and photographs of labeled Cecil B. Smith. Bell's oral history says that he donated photographs to ODC of Herbert Cecil Smith and his wife in the Dutch East Indies.
Inventory (1962-1970) available in PDF format.

RG 17- 4B2 Rogers Dey Whichard
Collection consists entirely of copper engraving plates used for printing images in the newspaper The Virginian-Pilot. Subjects of the engravings are primarily buildings and landmarks in Tidewater Virginia.

RG 17-5B1 Thomas Blossom
Longtime career as a teacher. Professor of History at Old Dominion University. Collection relates to his publications, faculty position, classes and students. Of note is material relating to his research of Central and South American history.

RG 17- 5B2 Harold S. Wilson
Professor of History at Old Dominion University. This small collection includes documents Wilson collected that relate to personal experiences and tributes of Confederate soldiers in Virginia Companies.  Topics include primary accounts of Virginia battles, daily soldier life, military morale, and southern ideologies. Highlights of this collection are: letters to Preston Brooks; correspondence of Col. Joseph T. Cosby; an obituary of Col. Joseph Cabell; correspondence of solider Wm H. Farrabee; papers concerning soldier William L Fontaine and his family estate; and an eulogy of Col. James C. Reed. The collection dates range from 1813 to 1978.

RG 17- 5B3 Robert C. McClelland
A history professor and Director of the Evening College at Norfolk Division of William and Mary. Materials include publications on a court case, his hometown of Masontown, poetry, General Publications, and newspaper clippings, dated from 1941 to 1962.

RG 17-6B1 S. Eliot Breneiser
Professor of Music at Old Dominion University. Collection relates to his position on the Faculty Senate, Faculty Caucus and University Senate where he served as the Chairman. Documents date from 1965 to 1974.

RG 17-6B1 Charles E. Vogan
Documents activities and finances of the Music Club at Norfolk Division William and Mary and Old Dominion University. The material, dated late 1940s to early 1970s, includes music programs, invitations, sponsors, meeting minutes, budgets, correspondence and new clippings.

RG 17- 6B3 Edgar Kovner and Kathleen O'Hara Kovner
 Edgar Kovner was a musician, the head of the refrigeration and air-conditioning departments at the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary and later the head of the Technical Institute. His first wife, Kathleen O'Hara, was a musician in Italy and Norfolk, Va. This small collection includes correspondence about Kovner's career at Old Dominion University, a scrapbook about his wife's musical career and a scrapbook documenting the history of the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra, from 1920 - 1945. Documents date from 1920 - 1984

RG 17-8A Political Science and Geography Department
Partial inventory (1960-1975) available in PDF format.

RG 17- 8B2 Robert L. Stern
Small collection consists of tape interviews with A. Willis Robertson, a local judge and an undated pamphlet for Norfolk Citizens for Democratic Government.

RG 17- 8B3 E. Grant Meade
Relates to Meade's membership and presentation to the World Affairs Council circa 1969.

RG 17-10B1 Ruben Cooper
Material documents the formation of the Special and Hearing Center at ODU in 1959. Also included are annual reports from the Speech Department, schedules and papers of the Debate Club and Cooper's curriculum vitae.
Partial inventory (1958-1965) available in PDF format.

RG 17-13B1 The Papers of Dr. Susan Kent
Dr. Kent served as a professor of anthropology from 1986 until 2003. She was an expert on hunters and gatherers. Her most extensive field work was her study of the Bushmen and Bakgalagadi of Africa. Collection includes material from her time at ODU, her field notes, and other research material.

RG 17-28A The Papers of the Women's Studies Department
The papers of Women’s Studies date from 1978-2005. The collection contains administrative and financial documents, course descriptions, and department sponsored event flyers and brochures.  The bulk of the collection features Women’s Studies News, events, and courses offered throughout its duration.

RG 17-28A1 The Papers of the Friends of Women's Studies
Friends of Women's Studies was established in 1986 to support and ensure the development of the Women's Studies Department.

RG 17-28B1 The Papers of Dr. Carolyn Rhodes
 Dr. Rhodes was an English and Women's Studies professor at Old Dominion University. The documents include course descriptions, grant reports, meeting minutes from various women's groups, information pertaining to the Title IX hearings, books, journal articles, newspaper clippings, newsletters and pictures. Other items include award plaques and posters.

RG 18 School of Business Administration

Papers include:

RG 18-5A Economics Department
Partial inventory (1971-1976) available in PDF format.

RG 18-4A1 Dorothy M. Jones
Ms. Jones was a professor at Old Dominion University from 1954-1976. Jones joined the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary as the Head of the Merchandising Department in 1954. She left that position to become the Associate Professor of Business Management in the School of Business, until her retirement in 1976. This collection deals primarily with Dr. Jones' career as a professor at the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary. The papers document her studies conducted through classes for the benefit of local businessmen, business correspondence, papers and published materials.

RG 18- 5B1 John R. Tabb
John R. Tabb (1925 - 2002) began teaching at Norfolk Division William and Mary in 1955 as a professor of economics. He went on to become an administrator and was the first dean of the School of Business. His papers document student activities from the 1950s to 1970s and include a scrapbook with pictures of white students who sued over to reopen schools shut by Massive Resistance in 1958.

RG18-6B1 Thomas Jackson Reed
Mr. Reed began his career at the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary in 1957 as an Associate Professor in the School of Business Administration. He taught courses in Economics, Business, and Statistics. The collection documents his academic life and his work as a consultant in urban planning, land use, political re-districting and retail marketing.

RG 18-11A Urban Studies and Public Administration Department
Material related to the formation of the Urban Studies program and Dr. Wolfgang Pindur research on water quality.
Partial inventory (1972-1980) available in PDF format.

RG 18-26A Bureau of Research
Contains several economic impact studies done in the Hampton Roads area, projects with the Norfolk Port and Industrial Authority, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Department of Transportation, and the Institute of Urban Studies. Also included is a Summary of the Capital Program (1966-1970), which includes city plans to build Lake Taylor Senior High School and to expand Booker T. Washington. The collection also contains statements and invoices for all projects funded through the Old Dominion Research Foundation in 1971 and 1972. The collection contains information dating from 1966 to 2000 and is arranged chronologically within three series.

RG 19 Darden College of Education

Papers include:

RG 19-1A Dean’s office files
Partial inventory (1964-1977) available in PDF format. Includes accreditation reports.

RG 19-1B1 Dr. A. Rufus Tonelson
Dr. Tonelson was the principal of Maury High School during Massive Resistance crisis. Papers primarily relate to his teaching experience at Old Dominion College and University.

RG 19-2A Educational Curriculum and Instruction
Partial inventory (1969-1978) available in PDF format.

RG 19-4A Educational Leadership and Counseling Department
Partial inventory (1975-1978) available in PDF format.

RG 19-5A Exercise Science, Sports, Physical Education and Recreation Department
Partial inventory (1968-1976) available in PDF format.

RG 20 College of Engineering and Technology

Includes papers for:

RG 20-1A Dean’s office files
Partial inventory (1978) available in PDF format.

RG 20-4A Mechanical Engineering Department
Partial inventory (1967-1977) available in PDF format.

RG 21 School of General Studies (defunct)

RG 21-1A Dean’s office files
Partial inventory (1956-1976) available in PDF format.

RG 21- 3A NATO Symposium
Includes correspondence, reports, photographs, brochures, schedules, newspaper articles and speeches related to NATO Symposia held in Norfolk in 1955, 1956, 1974 and 1975..

RG 22 College of Sciences

Includes papers for:

RG 22-1A Dean’s office files
Partial inventory (1963-1979) available in PDF format.

RG 22-8A Psychology Department
Transcripts and cassettes of four interviews done by Psychology professor Elizabeth Henry in 1979 - 1980 of Charles O. Burgess, Provost; Ruth Harrell, Raymond Kirby, Psychology chair and Lewis Webb, former president of ODU.
Inventory available in PDF format.

RG 22-9A Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department
Partial inventory (1966-1979) available in PDF format.

RG 23 School of Continuing Studies (defunct)

Includes papers for:

RG 23-2A Off campus Credit Program

RG 23-2B1 Albert I. Godden

RG 23-6A Guantanamo Bay Off-campus Credit Program
A majority of the collection is related to Guantanamo Bay course and enrollment information and related correspondence between 1966 and 1979. Notable elements of the collection include correspondence related to a 1969 visit from Lewis Webb, president of ODU, and clippings from the Guantanamo Gazette, the base newspaper related to President Richard M. Nixon’s visit to China and U.S.-Cuban relations.

RG 23-9A Institute of Management
Partial inventory (1967-1976) available in PDF format.

RG 24 College of Health Sciences

Includes papers for:

RG 24-5A School of Nursing
Partial inventory (1964-1975) available in PDF format.

RG 30 Poster Collection

Contains posters of musical performances, plays, athletic events, academic programs, student activities, lectures, discussions, seminars, readings, and festivals.

RG 32 Photograph Collection

The ODU Photographic Collection contains a wide range of photos relating to the university’s history from the 1930s to the present. They are arranged chronologically by decades and alphabetically by category (i.e. Academics: Art, Student Life: Dorm Living). The collection itself is ever growing and is subject to more additions of photos in the upcoming years.

RG 33 Records of the Norfolk Division (1930-1962) and Old Dominion College (1962-1969)

Partial inventory available in PDF format.

Includes the following series:

RG 36 Faculty and Staff Organizations

Contains records of::

RG 36- 7A Faculty Wives Club
Contains handbooks, flyers and scrapbooks of the Faculty Wives Club and Women's Association, a social and service club for wives of ODU faculty and staff. Material dates from 1964 to 1986.

RG 37 Student Organizations

Contains records of Old Dominion University student organizations including fraternities and sororities.

RG 40 Virginia Tidewater Consortium for Continuing Higher Education

Partial inventory (1974-1980) available in PDF format.

Additional Special Collections Holdings Related to Old Dominion University:

Oral History Collection

A collection of interviews with former and present administrators, faculty, and staff of Old Dominion University, and community leaders. Primarily documents the development of Old Dominion University from an extension of the College of William & Mary to a world renowned university.

University Publications

Scrapbook Collection

A collection of scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings from the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot and the Norfolk Ledger-Star that document the history of the school from its founding in 1930 to the present day. Listed in the online catalog as LD4331.A4.N49.

ODU Theses and Dissertations

Special Collections houses the original, signed copy of each ODU thesis or dissertation. All theses and dissertations written after 1979, and some earlier, have circulating copies in the general collection under call number LD4331. All are entered into the library online catalog by author, title, and subject. To find theses/dissertations for a particular department, do a title search in the online catalog under: Old Dominion University theses (name of degree)".

Note: Electronic full text versions of all ODU dissertations published after 1980 (and some earlier as early as 1976) are available through Dissertations & Theses: Full Text. Abstracts and indices of some earlier theses are available through Dissertation Abstracts.

Revised: 11/5/2009