The Auburn University Special Collections and Archives Department recently received a donation on behalf of John Vick, a 1962 Auburn graduate, and his wife Faye. The donation has been named the Vick Collection in their honor.
"John and Faye have been very generous toward Auburn over the years," said Dwayne Cox, the head of special collections at Auburn. "And this collection is a great example of that."
Hester Montford is a graduate assistant in the history department and is in the archival education program.
"The collection ranges from Revolutionary Colonialism all the way up to the Kennedy era," Montford said.
The collection includes three main aspects: manuscripts, rare books and a postal collection. Among the manuscripts are signed papers by Jefferson Davis and Raphael Semmes, who was an officer in the United States Navy and captained the CSS Alabama during the Civil War.
"One of the main subjects the collection touches on is the Civil War," Cox said. "The unique manuscripts and postal material are a great addition to our sizable Civil War collection."
Montford was hired on as a graduate assistant to arrange the material in a logical order.
"We are doing things to preserve it such as putting things in acid free folders," Montford said. "We are also arranging it into an order so researchers will be able to find things easily."
Cox said that Montford is the most knowledgeable on the collection because of the time she has spent organizing the material.
"I have not seen a donation of this size come through," Montford said. "We are really grateful for this type of collection because we depend on donations and I think researchers will find it invaluable."
Montford is an archival education student that it has been a great personal experience to work with the collection.
"It is really intense because it is so many different history topics," Montford said. "But I am learning a lot while working with the material and I think it is very interesting."
Cox said he is also grateful for the donation from John and Faye Vick. He said it is a major gift not only because of its informational content, but the fact that it goes well with their current collections. Cox also said he is happy to have the collection so it can be used by students, faculty and researchers.
The material will be open for researchers by the end of the semester.
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