Morrill Act and Virginia Higher Education

This month we note the 100th anniversary of the passage of the Morrill Act by the Congress of the United States.   The act, which enabled the establishment of land-grant colleges and universities, was accepted by the Virginia loyalist legislature in 1864.  It was not until 1872, however, that Virginia gave land-grant status to what are now Virginia Tech and Virginia State universities.  See the pages below from the Charles E. Burks Collection volume of the Acts of Assembly, Special Session 1872.