History of Virginia Commonwealth University

Special Collections and Archives at both Cabell Library and Health Sciences Library hold many records, reports, publications, photographs and other resources related to the history of VCU. The materials listed below are only a small percentage of the resources available. Please contact us to learn about our other holdings.

Alumni Publications

• The Scarab, 1952-2010 

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Alumni Magazine for the MCV Alumni Association that contains articles on various aspects of the institution's history
• VCU Magazine and Shafer Court Connections, 1971-2010
  • ​​​​​​​​VCU alumni magazines

Audio-Visual

• VCU 50th Anniversary Celebration
  • VCU Then and Now: 50 Years for the Public Good
  • VCU 50: Perspectives on higher education and commemorating history
• VCU 40th Anniversary
  • "VCU 40tth and Forward" VCU's past, present, and future as seen in 2008
• Tribute to VCU President Eugene P. Trani, 1990-2009 
  • Timeline, images, and a video tribute to VCU's 4th president
• MCV Campus History​
  • 175th anniversary history of the MCV Campus of VCU
• VCU Basketball
  • "Greatest Moments in VCU Basketball"
  • VCU Final Four Run Highlights

Documents

• Office of the President
  • Documents related to the East Marshall Street Well
• Report of the Higher Education Study Commission
  • Bird Commission report recommended a comprehensive university in Richmond.
• Sanger Historical Files 
  • Selected documents from the Medical College of Virginia archives, 1859-1865
• Wayne Commission Report
  • Report recommending the creation of VCU, 1967

Images

• VCU Images on Flickr

• VCU Photo Library
  • Images of VCU available to VCU community with login
• Vintage Images of VCU
  • Early images of VCU from the 1960s and 1970s

News Publications

• VCU News Archives
  • VCU News releases and stories from 1999 to the present
• VCU Today, VCU Voice, UniverCity News, VCU News
  • VCU’s newsprint publications, 1972-2002

Oral Histories

• VCU Oral History Archive

Interviews with individuals associated with VCU

Student Newspapers and Publications

• Commonwealth Times
  • Student newspaper from 1969-2011
• Millennium and Poictesme
  • Student literary publications
• Reflections in In, The Vine, Ink
  • Alternative student publications, 1978-2014

University Records

• VCU Bulletins (catalogs) 1968-2015
• VCU Commencement Programs 1968-present
• Minutes of the Board of Visitors
  • 1968-2010
  • 2010-present

​Yearbooks

• The Wigwam, Cobblestone, Commonwealth, The Rampages
  • Yearbook for RPI and the Monroe Park Campus
• The X-Ray 
  • Yearbook for the Medical College of Virginia and the MCV Campus