Hidden History: The Black Experience in the Roanoke Valley Cassette Tapes and Transcripts

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)
Newman Library
Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001
560 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (540) 231-6308
Fax: (540) 231-3694
Restrictions:

The collection is open to research.

Terms of access:

This oral history project was an agreement between University Libraries and The Harrison Museum of African American Culture. Researchers should contact the appropriate organization for assistance in determining the use of these materials. Copyright restrictions may apply. 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.

Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Hidden History: The Black Experience in the Roanoke Valley Cassette Tapes and Transcripts, Ms1992 049, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Summary

Extent:
2.5 Cubic Feet 10 boxes
Abstract:
This oral history project was an agreement between University Libraries and The Harrison Museum of African American Culture. It contians oral history interviews with forty African American people from the Roanoke Valley. The interviews are mostly biographical in nature.
Language:
The materials in the collection are in English.
Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Hidden History: The Black Experience in the Roanoke Valley Cassette Tapes and Transcripts, Ms1992 049, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

Oral history project designed to interview African American residents of the Roanoke Valley in Virginia. The interviews cover the African American cultural, social, and political history in the Valley. Collection consists of approximately fifty-five interviews. Transcripts are available for forty of the interviews.

Biographical / historical:

The Harrison Museum of African American Culture first opened in 1985 in the Harrison School, a historically Black school in Roanoke, Virginia. The institution later relocated to downtown Roanoke in 2013, where it stood for twelve years before it moved once more to the Melrose Plaza Community Center in 2025. According to The Harrison Museum of African American Culture's website, the museum is a cultural and educational institution that is dedicated to preserving and displaying the history of African Americans and their contributions.

The oral history interviews were done in 1992, twelve years after the museum's opening, in partnership with Virginia Tech University Libraries. According to the museum's website, the interviewees were elders in the Roanoke Valley community. Their interviews ranged from biographical to detailed recollections of the Black communities in the Roanoke Valley and their significance to the history of Roanoke.

External Sources:

Harrison Museum of African American Culture, https://harrisonmuseum.com/about/, accessed on November 18, 2025.

Acquisition information:
The collection was acquired by Special Collections and University Archives prior to 1992.
Arrangement:

The interview transcripts are arranged in alphabetical order by last name within each box. Box one contains forty oral history interview transcripts. Box two contains thirty-seven copies of those transcripts. Boxes three through ten contain the cassette tapes.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard