VTCC Museum

The VTCC Museum began in 1985, when then-Commandant Lt. Gen. Howard M. Lane asked Col. Joseph Reich ’75, then a captain and an Air Force ROTC detachment instructor, to start a Corps museum. Since then, it has become a diverse collection of Corps memorabilia: old uniforms and historical artifacts passed down and donated by alumni over the years. In the beginning the museum was small enough to reside in Rasche Hall’s guard room, but the collection grew and was then housed in Rasche’s study lounge area (doubling in size). Through the years, its primary caretakers were local Corps alumni, the regimental historian and his or her staff, and Col. Rock and Patty Roszak.

Because of the new barracks construction on Upper Quad, the museum contents were moved in the fall/winter of 2012-13 to the Newman Library, where they are today. The library donated a beautiful area on the fourth floor to hold the museum’s display cases. The original Skipper cannon also was moved to a temporary home in the Holtzman Alumni Center’s museum, where you can also see it on display. 

In the future, the Corps Museum will be housed in the future Corps Leadership and Military Science Building on Upper Quad. Fundraising efforts are well underway, and if you are interested in helping with this effort, please contact the VTCC development team.

Thanks to the generosity of the Moore family, the Major General Cecil R. Moore collection will anchor the VTCC Museum’s collection, providing new, primary sources for historical research. Hundreds of documents, postcards, and souvenirs populate the collection, along with his military uniforms, photographs, war booty, and diaries. While serving under Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower as chief engineer, European Theater of Operations, during World War II, Moore’s command was responsible for maintaining and repairing bridges, tunnels, and rail lines in Europe. 

The history of the Corps of Cadets is the history of the university. The mission of the VTCC Museum is to tell the story of the Corps’ past, present, and future for not only future generations of cadets, but for the public as a whole. The museum strives to acquire, preserve, and maintain a respectful and accessible collection and presentation of the rich history of the cadets who have gone to serve honorably in the U.S. armed forces, as well as in the private sector. 

If you would like to make a donation of memorabilia items to the museum, please contact Museum Curator Samantha Riggin at 540-231-8807 or samsales@vt.edu.

If you are visiting Blacksburg, please stop by the library or the Holtzman Alumni Center to see the Corps items on display. In addition, the Corps historians can provide tours of the museum dependent on their class schedules, so please contact the alumni office at 540-231-7431 if you are interested.