William Blake, Ph.D., was with VCU at the very start. He began teaching history at Richmond Professional Institute in 1963. When RPI and the Medical College of Virginia merged to create VCU in 1968, Blake became the first president of VCU’s Faculty Senate and was involved in many conversations with fellow faculty members who outlined VCU’s earliest faculty policies. In 1993, Blake donated documents from these meetings to VCU Libraries.

In the years since, Blake has contributed more materials to VCU Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives, including texts on the history of Christianity, a collection of comic books that he began amassing as a child and an important collection of books and original resources related to his denomination, the Disciples of Christ. 

“These have been my favorite books, and I’ve managed to hold on to them for so long,” Blake says. “I wanted to make sure my collections stayed together and were maintained. I trust VCU Libraries to preserve these works and make sure they are available to more than just a handful of people.” 

Blake has worked to aid the preservation of his and other materials at VCU Libraries for years. He made a planned gift in 2016 that will help ensure that the library has what it needs to maintain its Special Collections and Archives. And in June, 2026 he made a $600,000 pledge to establish the William E. and Miriam S. Blake, Jr. Graduate Fellowship in Special Collections and Archives. The fellowship will support a graduate student doing work related to Special Collections and Archives. Its first recipient will be William Bearden, a student who has been working with the books and papers in Blake’s archives for the last year. 

“He did such an effective job that it showed the library needed a person in that position,” Blake says. “This fellowship will expand on that work and make sure those materials will continue to be preserved and enjoyed for years to come.”

“This is a transformational gift for VCU Libraries,” said Director of Development Kelly Gotshalk. “Not only is this the largest gift from an individual that we have received, it’s the first graduate assistantship at VCU Libraries and will be an excellent path to valuable experiential learning opportunities for graduate students for years to come, while also providing valuable support to Special Collections and Archives in the work of processing collections.”

Creating this position is vital to maintaining special collections, and providing this opportunity to a VCU student will create a valuable chance for hands-on experience.

“It’s a big help for students,” Blake says. “The student who holds this position now tells me that he has found great reward in doing this work. He’s finding it interesting and helpful for his own academic work. Helping a student who has that kind of ambition is a delight to me.” 

The fellowship is named for Blake and his late wife, Miriam Blake (B.S.’69, M.Ed.’76), who belonged to one of VCU’s first graduating classes. This is the fourth fund at VCU in both of their names, including an annual lectureship, a scholarship and a chair. Among the materials that Blake contributed to Special Collections and Archives were letters and cards sent between the couple during the summer of 1949 while Miriam was in Ohio and Blake was in Virginia. 

The library has always been an important place for the Blake family. Miriam was a teacher who often came home delighted to share the story of a student who had learned to read, and the couple instilled a love of reading in their three children. In fact, their picture was printed in a local newspaper when they had checked out more books than any other family in the area. 

“Libraries have been such a vital part of our lives,” Blake says. “It feels good to experience the joy of serving others. I feel fortunate that I’m able to see the results of what is donated and know that Miriam lives in these contributions and these ways of looking at life, too.”

Written by Kit Tindall. First published by Development and Alumni Relations.