Introduction

Following the events of April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech received over 90,000 letters, cards, posters, banners, photographs, artifacts, textiles, books, certificates, audiovisual recordings, and more from people and organizations all around the world, many of which were left at memorials on the Blacksburg campus.

Special Collections and University Archives collected representative items as part of 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. Digital representations of over 7,000 items were also captured by archivists and are online in the April 16, 2007, Condolence Archives digital collection.

Created for the 13th annual remembrance commemoration in 2020, this exhibit - Unknown Origin: Anonymous gifts in the April 16, 2007 Condolence Archives - highlights the messages Virginia Tech received from unknown individuals, organizations, or places following the events of April 16, 2007. It features anonymous donations and gifts of unknown origin, paying homage to those who want to be part of the mourning and recovery process but do not necessarily want to be known.