Our Mission:
The Roanoke Valley Heritage Center (RVHC) is dedicated to discovering, documenting, preserving, and sharing the rich history of the Roanoke Valley and surrounding region for current and future generations.
Our mission is to identify and preserve the artifacts, photographs, documents, advertising pieces, railroad memorabilia, business history, maps, postcards, ephemera, and community stories that tell the story of our region and the people who helped shape it.
Through community partnerships, artifact contributions, historical research, and digital preservation, we are building a growing online catalog and historical archive designed to ensure that these important pieces of local history are not lost to time.
The Roanoke Valley Heritage Center serves as both a preservation project and a digital heritage resource where visitors can explore, learn from, and interact with historical items connected to Roanoke, Vinton, Salem, Botetourt County, Franklin County, Bedford County, and communities throughout Southwest Virginia.
Our goals are to:
• Discover and document historically significant artifacts and stories
• Create a permanent digital record of regional history
• Preserve photographs, documents, and artifacts for future generations
• Share local history through online exhibits, educational content, and community outreach
• Develop traveling exhibits and public displays that bring history directly to the community
• Build a comprehensive digital catalog of the people, places, businesses, industries, and railroads that shaped our region
• Establish a future Heritage Center where collections can be experienced in person
By preserving these artifacts and stories today, we help ensure that future generations can interact with and learn from the history that built our communities—whether through digital archives, educational programs, traveling exhibits, or future public displays.
Every photograph, artifact, document, and story represents a piece of our shared heritage.
Together, we are preserving the stories that built our valley.
“Today’s artifacts are tomorrow’s history lessons. Our mission is to ensure they are preserved, documented, and accessible before they are lost forever.”
-Roanoke Valley Heritage Center