The Smithfield Review

 

The Smithfield Review publishes studies in the history of the region west of the Blue Ridge and is published annually, in the spring, by the Smithfield-Preston Foundation, Blacksburg, Virginia, in cooperation with Virginia Tech Libraries and the Department of History, Virginia Tech. Current issues are available at The Smithfield Review.

Recent Submissions

  • Letitia Preston Floyd's "My Dear Rush" Letter 

    Glanville, Jim; Mays, Ryan (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2016)
    A transcription of the original 31-page letter that Letitia Preston Floyd wrote to her son Rush Floyd.

  • Letitia Preston Floyd: Supplementary Notes 

    Glanville, Jim; Mays, Ryan (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2016)
    A presentation of new information about Letitia and her final home in Burke Garden.

  • Adam Harman, the New River, and Tom's Creek: An Analysis of the Earliest Documentary Records 

    Mays, Ryan S. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2016)
    An interpretation of documents that provide information about the earliest settlers in Southwest Virginia in the 1740s.

  • Change Amidst Tradition: The First Two Years of the Burruss Administration at VPI 

    Skiles, Faith (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2016)
    A presentation of the early plans of Virginia Tech's longest serving president, Julian Burruss, who served in that office from 1919 until 1945.

  • Thomas Nelson Conrad: Educator, Editor, Preacher, Spy 

    Cox, Clara B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2016)
    A brief biographical sketch of the man who served as president of both Preston and Olin Institute and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.

  • Olin and Preston Institute and Preston and Olin Institute: The Early Years of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: Part II 

    Cox, Clara B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2016)
    This article traces the difficult transitions of the young Methodist school as it overcame disruptions from legal battles, financial problems, and the Civil War.

  • The Smithfield Review, vol. 22 – Index 

    Cox, Clara B.; Watkins, Sharon B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2018)
    An index to volume 22.

  • The Smithfield Review, vol. 22 – Back Cover 

    Campbell, Hugh G.; Cox, Clara; McKissack, David W.; Taylor, Charles L.; Watkins, Sharon B.; Thorp, Daniel B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2018)
    The back of The Smithfield Review.

  • Document: A Letter from Janie Preston Boulware Lamb 

    Campbell, Hugh G.; Cox, Clara; McKissack, David W.; Taylor, Charles L.; Watkins, Sharon B.; Thorp, Daniel B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2018)
    This brief note provides information on Lamb's ideas for Smithfield and touches on some of her relatives.

  • Alexander Black and His World, 1857-1935: Part II: Alexander Black and the Bank of Blacksburg, 1877-1935 

    Watkins, Sharon B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2018)
    This article completes the examination of Alex Black's life by focusing primarily on how Black founded the Bank of Blacksburg, his leadership as president of the bank, and its operations and advancements during its years ...

  • The Smithfield Review, vol. 20 – A Note from the Editors 

    Campbell, Hugh G.; Cox, Clara; McKissack, David W.; Taylor, Charles L.; Watkins, Sharon B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2016)
    A note from the editors describing the content of this volume.

  • Sketch of the Life of Dr. Harvey Black 

    Apperson, John S. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2018)
    A description of the Black family and their achievements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

  • "Living in a New World": World War One and the Decline of Military Tradition at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1916-1923 

    Newcomb, Daniel C. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2018)
    An explanation of how the U.S. Army's use of the Blacksburg college undermined the school's military tradition, which had dated to the school's beginnings as a land-grant institution in 1872.

  • Southwest Virginians and the "War to End Wars" 

    McKissack, David (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2018)
    To mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I, two authors look at different aspects of the war and the effects it generated.

  • The Smithfield Review, vol. 22 – Table of Contents 

    Campbell, Hugh G.; Cox, Clara; McKissack, David W.; Taylor, Charles L.; Watkins, Sharon B.; Thorp, Daniel B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2018)
    The table of contents and information about The Smithfield Review.

  • A Message from the Editor 

    Campbell, Hugh G.; Cox, Clara; McKissack, David W.; Taylor, Charles L.; Watkins, Sharon B.; Thorp, Daniel B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2018)
    A message from the editors with announcements and a description of the content of this volume.

  • The Smithfield Review, vol. 22 

    Cox, Clara B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2018)
    Studies in the history of the region west of the Blue Ridge.

  • The Smithfield Review, vol. 21 – Back Cover 

    Campbell, Hugh G.; Cox, Clara; McKissack, David W.; Taylor, Charles L.; Watkins, Sharon B.; Thorp, Daniel B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2017)
    The back of The Smithfield Review.

  • Brief Note: Possible Scottish Baptism Records of James Patton's Children 

    Mays, Ryan S. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2017)
    A look at birth records from registry books in Dumfries, Scotland, likely to be those of Patton's Children.

  • The Smithfield Review, vol. 21 – Index 

    Watkins, Sharon B.; Cox, Clara B. (Smithfield Preston Foundation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of History, 2017)
    An index to Volume 21.

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