Francis H. Smith Circular Letter Soliciting Items to Establish a Museum at VMIRG.02.Outgoing.18450227Virginia Military Institute Archives

VMI ArchivesPreston LibraryLexington, VA 24450Business Number: 540-464-7516archives@vmi.eduURL:

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-04-09 17:51:24 -0400.Description is written in: Undetermined, Code for undetermined script script. Virginia Military Institute Archives Francis H. Smith Circular Letter Soliciting Items to Establish a Museum at VMI Smith, Francis H. (Francis Henney), 1812-1890 RG.02.Outgoing.18450227 /repositories/3/resources/779 1 items 1845-02-27 Archives stacks, Record Group 02, Superintendent. Outgoing correspondence, 1845 English . Scope and Contents

Virginia Military Institute printed circular, signed in ink by Superintendent Francis H. Smith, petitioning alumni for donations of "Curiousities, both literary and natural" to help establish a Museum at VMI. This examples is dated February 27, 1845, and addressed to William S. Beale, a member of the Class of 1843.

Also mentions addition to Barracks, new Gun House, Society of Cadets Hall, and Library.

Biographical / Historical

VMI was founded in 1839, so at the time this circular was produced the Institute was less than ten years old and had fewer than 200 alumni.

Online Access

This item is available online

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Preferred Citation

Records of Francis H. Smith, Outgoing Correspondence, Circular, February 21, 1845.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased, November 2015.

Virginia Military Institute—History—19th century Virginia Military Institute—Buildings, structures, etc. Virginia Military Institute. Museum Virginia Military Institute. Alumni Association Virginia Military Institute. Library Beale, William S. (William Steenbergen)