"A Tribute to Virginia Tech"

A Tribute to Virginia Tech: Selections of Poetry from the April 16 Condolence Archives

"A Tribute to Virginia Tech: Selections of Poetry from the April 16 Condolence Archives," exhibits just a few of the collected poems that were written in support of the Hokie Community following the tragic events on April 16, 2007. 

Hundreds of poems were sent from all over to Virginia Tech with cards, posters, notes, and letters sharing grief and support for Virginia Tech. Many poems were also left on campus at memorial sites to show support for the 32 fallen Hokies, the survivors, and the entire VT Community. The poems featured in this exhibit were written by named and anonymous individuals and families, students, alums, expressing condolences, anger, healing, and love.

This year's exhibit acknowledges the countless people, like Nikki Giovanni (1943-2024), who turned to poetry to comprehend and process the tragic events of April 16, 2007, and to console and support the families most deeply impacted by the tragedy.

These poems were added to the April 16, 2007 Condolence Archvies and organized into two groups: poetry sent by organizations or groups and poetry sent by individuals. Each group was alphabetized by the name of the organization or individual.

The Virginia Tech April 16, 2007 Condolence Archives was created by the University Archives, under the direction of University Archivist, Tamara Kennelly, to preserve this outpouring of support from communities across the world. Virginia Tech received over 90,000 letters, cards, posters, banners, poems, photographs, artifacts, textiles, books, certificates, and more from people and organizations all around the world and left at memorials on the Blacksburg campus. Special Collections and University Archives collected representative items in the Virginia Tech April 16, 2007 Archives of the University Libraries, a collection of over 500 cubic feet of material. Items from every continent, 80 countries, and all 50 U.S. states are represented in the collection. 

Starting in the summer of 2007, representative artifacts were digitally photographed to share with the world. Those artifacts are publicly available online as part of the Virginia Tech April 16, 2007, Condolence Archives of the University Libraries on VTechWorks at https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/11385.