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This collection contains the papers of Bill Ellis related to the the May Day protests of 1970 at the University of Virginia. Ellis participated in these events as a student, and the collection contains material created and collected during this time. The papers comprise of four computer-generated banners, a bulletin, posters, and a summary report by the Virginia Strike Committee. The report details the events when State and Local Police confronted protesters on the U.Va. campus and Rugby Road, arresting many students for unlawful assembly on May 8 -9, 1970. The computer-generated banners read "It is the hand of Wynd," Rake Wenga Strike," and "I'd Prefer not to." "It is the hand of Wynd" is printed against a repeated pattern of "punt punt punt." Wynd is a reference to the Tolkien "wyrd (meaning "fate" in Anglo-Saxon), "Punt" referred to doing something enjoyable. The banner likely encouraged people to take a break from mid-term exams. The second reads "RAKE WENGA STRIKE" against a repeating background of "raw*ton*this*tae*" etc. etc. Both of those reflect a concern for administrative actions against profanity as students with signs that included profanity were arrested for public obscenity. The slogan was thus coded and would have been understood as meaning "F--K AGNEW-STRIKE" with the Vice President's name written backward. The final slogan, "I'd Prefer not to," was printed against a repeating background of "Bartleby* died*for*your*sins...strike*strike*strike, " a literary reference to Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener.

Twenty-seven "climate capsule" journals created as part of the 2019 Spring semester English course "Climate Fiction" taught by Professor Mary Kuhn (2019; 0.6 cubic feet). The journals consist of weekly observations and reflections from either specific routes or locations at the University of Virginia and Charlottesville, along with comments on cultural pieces regarding climate issues. The climate capsule journals are sealed until 2030.

This collection contains four posters displayed on the Lawn by Hira Azher, an undergraduate at the University of Virginia over the fall and winter of 2020 and 2021.The posters include critiques of the University of Virginia and the police, for white supremacy upheld in these institutions informed by Azher's experiences as a Muslim woman of color. Another poster provided protest and action steps to re-examine the case of Xavier Hill, an unarmed Black teenager, who was killed by the Viriginia State Police in January 2021. Two of the posters have been damaged ripped or torn while on display on the Lawn.

This collection contains five folders maintained by Michael Brannon, a University of Virginia alumnus from the class of 1969, which document his involvement in voter registration efforts during the summer of 1966. Two folders are labeled Virginia Students' Civil Rights Committee (VSCRC). One includes field notes and a letter, while the other contains pamphlets, workbooks, newsletters, meeting minutes, agendas, and reports collected through the VSCRC. Another folder, titled Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC), holds pamphlets and essays that Brannon obtained during the summer and in subsequent years while attending UVA. The final two folders pertain to conferences organized by ecumenical religious groups in 1966, which were connected to his volunteer work for the registration drive. These include materials from the Conference on People, Religion, and a Changing Virginia (November 1966) and New Day for Virginians (March 1966).

This collection contains one poster displayed by an undergraduate student living on the Lawn, during the fall of 2020. The poster is a critique of the University of Virginia's purchase of furniture made by prison labor. The sign was damaged and was taped back together.

The Southern Student Organizing Committee records include correspondence regarding the founding of the organization and its constitution and bylaws, correspondence, and memos and reports pertaining to the organization's 1969 dissolution. The records also include publications from the SSOC and its members (such as Thomas Gardner and Steve Wise), including newsletters, brochures, project reports, and journal publications regarding a variety of topics, but particularly around civil rights issues and the Vietnam War, as well as mimeographed reports and publications collected from a variety of other groups related to the SSOC, or share their general mission, such as the Students for a Democratic Society and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Finally, there are meeting minutes and summaries of meetings and conferences held by the SSOC, along with reports regarding SSOC projects.

This collection contains the papers of Thomas Gardner, an alumnus of the University of Virginia, a leader in the Southern civil rights and national peace movements of the '60s and '70s, and Professor of Communication at Westfield State University.

This collection contains papers, correspondence, newspapers and clippings, publications, leaflets, and records on events, activities, and professional connections related to Thurman Wenzl's study as a graduate student at the University of Virginia (1963-1969). These materials document his efforts in the Civil Rights Movement and for worker's rights. The items include 1994 reunion materials of the Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC), information on the Radical Student Union of UVA, subject files on Charlottesville including clippings on police brutality, abortion, the Civil Rights Movement, early activism in Charlottesville, and several copies of The Virginia Weekly among other materials.

RG 23/100, Student Organizations/ Miscellaneous, includes a new addition (RG-23/100/1.114) which is a pamphlet titled "Bigot on the Board?: What Bert Ellis' appointment means for you."