Records of the President, Walter S. Newman
| Creator | Walter S. Newman |
| Description | The Records of the Office of the President, Walter S. Newman (1895 to 1978) span the years 1947 to 1962, with the bulk of the material dating from 1947 to 1961. The collection consists primarily of Newman’s General Correspondence. Also included, and interfiled with general correspondence, are budget requests and statements, financial reports, enrollment statistics, architects’ contracts, audits, commencement and inaugural ephemera, statements to the Federal Power Commission, a few photographs, and reports on Virginia’s public school system submitted to the Moses Commission. These records include Correspondence with Virginia Attorney General Lindsay Almond and Director of Admissions Paul Farrier in the early 1950s documents the University’s strategy in response to efforts to challenge segregation in Virginia’s public schools and universities and the decision to admit Irving L. Peddrew III, the first black student enrolled at Virginia Tech. Files labeled “Racial Relations” from 1951 and 1952 document Newman’s attempts, which proved unsuccessful, to help the defense in Dorothy Davis v. County School Board, Prince Edward County by providing historical evidence of equality of resources within segregation. A file of correspondence from 1961 with Mary Fessler, President of the Blacksburg Branch of the American Association of University Women, records Newman’s decision to bar the organization from meeting on campus due after a black woman joined. |
| Call number | RG 2/10 |
| Date from | 1947 |
| Date to | 1962 |
| Geographic school | Blacksburg, VA |
| Size | 23.25 cu. ft. ; 24 boxes, 1 folder |
| Access restrictions yes/no | no |
| Access restrictions | |
| Part Of larger collection yes/no | no |
| Larger collection title | |
| URL | http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/vt/viblbv00086.xml.frame |
| Repository | Virginia Tech Special Collections |
| Repository address | University Libraries, P.O. Box 90001, Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001 |
| Repository contact name | Aaron D. Purcell |
| Repository contact title | Director, Special Collections |
| Repository contact email | specref@vt.edu |
| Repository contact phone | (540) 231-6308 |
| DoveRegion | region1 |
| Subjects | o African American students
o African Americans–Civil rights o Almond, J. Lindsay (James Lindsay), 1898-1986 o Public schools o Race relations o School integration o Segregation in higher education o Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University o American Association of University Women o Newman, Walter S. (Walter Stephenson), 1895-1978 |
| Types | o Correspondence
o Legal documents |