Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries (0434)Special Collections and University Archives Staff and LM Rozema, Archivist
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.
The collection is open for research.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Records of the Bureau of Community Development, RG 26/1/1, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The collection was transferred to Special Collections and University Archives in August 1955.
The collection is unprocessed. The description of the collection was completed prior to 2002.
The Bureau of Community Development was one of three bureaus of the Engineering Extension Division that were started in 1929. (The other two were the Industrial Service Bureau and the Bureau of Extension Instruction.) Its purpose was to assist cities and Chambers of Commerce in making industrial surveys and other studies for industrial development, as well as advising on municipal engineering projects and providing library services for municipal affairs. In 1937, all three bureaus ceased to exist as separate operations, but their activities were continued by the Engineering Extension Division as a whole.
This collection contains typed manuscripts of twenty-nine Industrial Surveys of various counties and cities in Virginia from 1928-1931. The manuscripts only vary slightly from the published volumes (cataloged, LD5655.A6552 1928-LD5655.A6552 1931), containing margin notes, editing, and certain information not contained in the published items. Arrangement is sometimes different as well. Nineteen of the surveys, made by the VPI Engineering Extension Division and sponsored by Southwestern Virginia, Inc. (a regional chamber of commerce serving the entire Southwest Virginia area), cover the following counties in Southwest Virginia: Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Craig, Dickerson, Floyd, Giles, Grayson, Lee, Montgomery (and the city of Radford), Pulaski, Roanoke, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, and Wythe. Ten of the surveys cover the following counties and cities in other parts of the state: Arlington County, Bedford, Edinburg and Madison District, Farmville, Halifax County, Orange County, Portsmouth, Tazewell-North Tazewell, and Wytheville. These surveys were directed by Reuben Lee Humbert, who was manager of the Bureau of Community Development from 1929-1936.
Also contained here is a typed manuscript entitled "A Brief History of Nansemond County, VA." There is no author indicated on the manuscript.
Unprocessed.
Published editions of the surveys are cataloged in the Rare Book Collection with call nos. LD5655 .A6552 1928 thru LD5655 .A6552 1931.
The guide to the Records of the Bureau of Community Development by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your- work/public-domain/cc0/ ).