Considering Virginia's integral role in every aspect of the Civil War, the ongoing effects of that conflict yet today, and the unfaltering interest in this period throughout the nation, several people, most notably Virginia Tech Board of Visitors member Donald Huffman, recognized the need to establish a formal entity for studying and sharing knowledge about this period of American history. Mr. Huffman also believed that the university should take advantage of its nationally noted Civil War historian, author, and Alumni Distinguished Professor of History James I. Robertson Jr., as well as the impressive Civil War collection of books, manuscripts, and memorabilia housed in Special Collections, Virginia Tech University Libraries.
Subsequently, in March 1999, Charles W. Steger, then vice president for development and university relations, announced that the university would found the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies with Dr. Robertson as its director.
Dr. Steger, now president of the university, also announced the kick-off to a $3-million campaign to fund the programs and other academic pursuits of the center, which maintains a formal link to the Department of History in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.
As the center's work rapidly grew, the university hired during the summer of 2000 another noted Civil War historian and author, William C. Davis, as director of programs. Dr. Robertson became executive director of the center.
With a chief goal of educating the young, the projects of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies concentrate on the actions that led to the war, on the factors that help explain it and its aftermath, and on the people who suffered through it. The center provides an ideal setting to shed new light on the war--not merely on the political and military aspects, but also on the more subtle social, cultural, and human implications of this pivotal episode in United States history.
