Collections

The Center for Local History's oral history program has been ongoing for over 40 years. Subjects include civic leaders, government officials, business owners, and ordinary citizens: men and women who describe firsthand accounts of their everyday lives, places, and neighborhoods. These primary doc...

Fort C. F. Smith was an important part of the Civil War defenses for the City of Washington. It stood on a bluff overlooking the Potomac River near the Aqueduct Bridge on the road to Chain Bridge. The Archeological Investigation of Fort C. F. Smith, consists of one notebook containing the report ...

Arlington Hall was an operating junior college and high school from 1927 to 1942, later an Army station, and National Foreign Affairs Training Center. This collection covers the history of the Arlington Hall Junior College, with materials published between 1928 and 1993. Most of the materials cam...

Arlington County has seven volunteer fire departments that help the official county fire department respond to fire and medical emergencies, assist in public education demonstrations, and participate in fundraising activities, administrative duties, and equipment maintenance, among other duties. ...

This collection houses miscellaneous pamphlets, brochures, locally published books, flyers, programs, and narrative histories concerning the various churches in Arlington County. Most of the documents were created by the church and document church activities, anniversary celebrations, membership,...

Record Group 7 contains the incomplete and unofficial records of the Arlington County, Virginia, public school system. The bulk of the material is from the period 1946-1988.

Record Group 9 houses the scattered records of the Citizen's Committee for School Improvement for the period from 1946-1954 and 1956-1969 and measures 1 linear foot. The Citizen’s Committee for School Improvement (CCSI), a nonpartisan association, was formed in Arlington, Virginia in 1946, with t...

Citizens Concerned was formed in 1961 to monitor the activities of the American Nazi Party, whose headquarters were in Arlington. The Citizens Concerned group was also active in educating the public about the intentions of the Party. RG 10 documents the functions and activities of Citizens Concer...

History/Biography Edmond C. Fleet (b. 1902, d. 1983) was an active member of the African American community in Arlington and the District of Columbia. A pastry chef by trade, Fleet was a Chairman of the Trustee Board of the Arlington Mt. Zion Baptist Ch...

The Samuel Milner National Airport Research Papers delve into the history of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, previously Washington National Airport, as well as the previous airports in the area, Washington Airport and Hoover Field. The photographs associated with this collection have b...

RG 17: Records of the Organized Women Voters The Organized Women Voters of Arlington County was founded in 1923 as the Arlington County League of Women Voters, and later that same year changed its name to the Organized Women Voters in order to remain clearly independent of the now...

RG 19: The personal papers in this collection are those collected and generated by Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell of Arlington, Virginia. Mrs. Campbell had long been involved in Arlington County educational and civic issues and active in many civic associations. She was a member of ...

RG 21, Records of the Arlington County Department of Health, 1938-1973, houses images documenting the department's activities. Special yearly scrapbooks, similar to an annual report, were created from 1938-1943 and are the bulk of the collection. Images document inspections of restaurants and dai...

RG 23: The Personal Papers of Eleanor Lee Templeman, 1928-1990   Eleanor Lee Templeman (b.1907-d.1990) grew up in California and lived in Arlington from 1935 until she died. She served as historian of the Society of the Lees of Virginia, and was an a...

This collection contains materials collected by Beulah Shipley Goss (1894-1974) and dates from 1932 through 1972, although the bulk of the papers fall between 1942 and 1959. This collection reflects Goss’s volunteer activities with various organizations and contains correspondence, publications, ...

RG 28, Pamphlets and Ephemera, is a reference group of materials collected from many different sources. The materials in this collection were originally conceived of as ephemeral, or disposable, but in reality give researchers an intimate look at Arlington life. This collection holds postcards, c...

RG 29: Arlington County Public Library Department Records Prior to 1936, Arlington County had five independent neighborhood libraries.  These libraries received limited financial support from the County.  In 1936, Arlington citizens working with the libraries ...

Record Group 30 houses miscellaneous reports written about Arlington County neighborhoods and specific buildings that are historical in nature. These reports are, for the most part, unpublished works done by students of Historic Preservation from local colleges and universities, county generated ...

RG 32, Documents from the County Manager's Library contains materials gathered by various Arlington County managers and housed in their quasi-professional library existing from 1932, the year when the county manager form of government was adopted, until 1981.  The collection largely consists of c...

RG 44: Records of the League of Women Voters of Arlington, VA, Inc., 1945-2001  The League of Women Voters of the United States was formed in 1920 in order to foster education in citizenship and to support improved legislation, but the organ...

Waycroft is a neighborhood in north Arlington, Virginia. The neighborhood is frequently paired with Woodlawn to form Waycroft-Woodlawn and stretches south and east from Virginia Hospital Center to Glebe Road and I-66. RG 50 houses the scattered records of the Women's Club of Waycroft, dating 1942...

RG 60 is the Eastman-Fenwick Collection, and houses a wide variety of personal papers of first the Eastman and then Eastman-Fenwick family, spanning several generations. There is correspondence (including some from the front lines of the Civil War and World War I), photographs, financial and lega...

Born Mary Rice in 1921, Mary A. Marshall graduated from Swarthmore College and came to Washington, DC, in 1942 to work as an economist in the Department of Justice. In 1944 she married Roger D. Marshall and they moved to Arlington in 1953. Prominent in Arlington County politics in the 1950...

Dr. Barnard DeJean Joy (1908-1985) was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, taught an education course at GWU served on the Arlington School Board, presided over the Virginia School Boards Association, and was a founding board member of WETA-TV. RG 70 is a collection of materials that ...

Warren Davenport Clardy was a native Washingtonian and long-time resident of Arlington County. He graduated from Western High School and attended both the University of Maryland and George Washington University. After serving in the US Navy during World War II, Clardy was employed with various fe...

RG 76: The Personal Papers of Nan Netherton, 1946-1987 Anne “Nan” Netherton (1926-2003) was a prominent figure in capturing the history of Arlington County and all of Northern Virginia. Netherton and her husband Ross co-wrote a book on Arlington County titled Arlington County ...

Record Group 79 houses the records of the Ashton Heights Civic Association which is open to all 18 and up residents of the Ashton Heights neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia. The collection measures approximately 1.5 linear feet, and dates from 1915 to 1998, with the bulk of the material dating f...

Founded in 1926, the Lyon Village Civic Association is composed of residents and/or property owners in Lyon Village, a residential neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia. The collection measures approximately 4.5 linear feet, and dates from 1926 to 1998. Types of material include bylaws, minutes, ne...

The material in RG 90 is dated 1941-1980. It includes reports made to the state's Division of Military Affairs, a complete set of enlistment forms of all recruits, which includes descriptive information on all enlistees, and general correspondence, notes, and memoranda dealing with the regular ac...

Dorothea E. Abbott wrote several books and numerous articles, including eleven for Arlington Historical Magazine. The personal papers described here are those collected and generated by Abbott of Arlington, Virginia, in the course of her research about Arlington and other Virginia localities, Fl...

RG 97: Records of Church Women United of Arlington, 1944-2001 On January 20, 1944, representatives from sixteen churches in Arlington met to discuss organizing an Arlington Council of Church Women. The name was changed in 1953 to United Church Women of Arlingt...

The Ki-Wives of Arlington was founded in 1951 as a sister organization to the Arlington Kiwanis Club. This collection houses the official records of the Arlington, Virginia, branch of Ki-Wives International, dating 1951-2000 and document the club’s activities, including luncheon meetings with pre...

PG 100, Arlington County Government Photographs, 1915-1997, are images generated by several different county agencies documenting government activities and buildings. The bulk of the collection dates from 1955-1988, and many photos document the development of high rise b...

Founded in 1915, the Kiwanis Club is an international community service organization. The Arlington chapter was founded in June 1931. This collection houses the Arlington chapter's records including minutes, newsletters, correspondence, club histories, reports, posters and other publicity materia...

Freedman’s Village was founded in 1863 on the lands along Arlington Heights, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Originally a temporary camp for freedmen, it became a permanent community for freed slaves. Record Group 103 consists chiefly of copies and transcripts of material...

Roye Lowry was an active member of the Arlington community for decades, serving in various positions of local government and participating in numerous capacities of volunteer work. RG 108 measures 2.5 linear feet and spans the years 1958 to 1985. Most of the materials are concentrated in the year...

During the late 1950s, Dr. Phoebe Hall Knipling, the Supervisor of Secondary Science education for Arlington Public Schools (APS) started a summer science enrichment program that incorporated outdoor education for students. The program aimed to improve students’ environmental awareness by providi...

RG 116 consists of condominium conversion information for Arlington properties and applications for registration. The material includes accompanying documents such as by-laws, revised applications, supplements to applications, public offering statements, and unit purchasing agreements. These appl...

Record Group 118 contains part of the history of the Parkway Citizens Association dating from before World War II until the last decade of the 20th Century. The association, first known as the Maywood-Woodmont Improvement League, and later as the Thrifton Village Improvement League, took its pres...

The Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ is a diverse religious community. It was founded in 1912 by a group of residents living in the Vanderwerken area of Arlington who wanted to form a congregational church. It is a church, according to its website, “united in Christian covenant ...

Records Related to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the Pentagon Record Group 133 is primarily made up of textual materials, photographs, some memorabilia, and audio-visual materials.  The bulk of the collection dates from 2001-2002 and features pho...

The Air Raid Warden Service began during World War II. Local citizens served as wardens under the command of the Chief Control Officer. RG 135 holds material from the Service from 1941-1943 and measures .2 linear feet. Much of the material is from Arlington County or the Washington metropolitan a...

Chartered on July 4, 1929, the Arlington Rotary Club is an active community organization made up of local business and professional leaders and is part of Rotary International. RG 136 is made up entirely of textual materials. The bulk of the materials consist of weekly club newsletters sent out t...

Record Group 137 houses the records of the Arlington County Democratic Committee. The record group measures approximately 5.5 linear feet and dates from 1952 to 1978, with the majority of the materials dating from the 1960s. Types of materials include minutes, campaign flyers, sample ballots, del...

RG 156: Records of Soroptimist International of Arlington, Virginia, 1938-2008 Soroptimist International (SI) is an international organization whose members work to improve the lives of women and girls through programs leading to social and economic empowermen...

RG 158: Ruby Lee Minar Family Papers, 1923-1979 Shortly after the end of World War I, Ruby Lee Minar entered the real estate industry. Using a few hundred dollars from Liberty Bonds, she invested in real estate in the Chevy Chase area and in 1919 began acquiri...

This collection contains materials relating to various Arlington organizations with which Robert Branch was involved, including the Arlington County Volunteer Fire Department #8, the Arlington Community War Fund Campaign, the J. M. Langston Citizens Association, and the Arlington Tuberculosis Ass...

Wakefield High School, one of three high schools in Arlington, Virginia, was officially dedicated on February 22, 1955, although classes started there in 1953. RG 167 houses records of the Wakefield Alumni Association. The record group measures approximately 1.5 linear feet and dates from 1921 to...

Mary Margaret Whipple is a former Virginia State Senator (1995-2012) and former Arlington School Board member. RG 168 houses her personal papers and measures approximately 1.5 linear feet, dating from 1965-2000 with the bulk of materials dating from 1978-1982. Press releases, campaign literature,...

School health work began with Arlington’s Public Health Department; tuberculosis, typhoid and diphtheria were the most pressing problems. An Arlington County Health Officer was appointed in 1923, and a public health nurse was assigned exclusively to the schools. The files of the School Health Nur...

The Arlington County Women’s Democratic Club was founded in 1932 with the purpose of furthering the ideals of the Democratic Party. Record Group 171 houses their records from 1954 to 1974. The record group measures approximately one linear foot. Types of materials are bylaws, minutes, corresponde...

T Arlington County Board appointed an 18-member committee in October 2005, charged with planning events and legacy projects to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in 1607. This collection dates from 2001 to 2008 and consists of minutes, correspondence, alphabetical file...

The Arlington Heritage Alliance began to work towards preserving historical sites in Arlington County. This collection contains files pertaining to that work ranging from about 1976-2006 and span just over 11 linear feet. Most of the materials are dated from 1988-2003.

The organization FISH (For Immediate Sympathetic Help) was founded by church members in Oxford, England in 1961. North Arlington FISH began as a cooperative program of the North Arlington Parish Council in 1966. Record Group 176 is made up entirely of textual materials, including publications and...

Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG) is a professional association for teachers, founded in 1929 at the University of Texas, Austin. The Arlington (Alpha Omicron) Chapter was formed in 1963. This collection houses materials created by DKG's Alpha Omicron Chapter dating from 1963-2006.

Arlington View is an historically African-American neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia. The Arlington View Civic Association grew out of the Johnson Hill Citizens Association. The neighborhood was known as Johnson Hill or Johnson’s Hill until well into the 20th century. The records in this collec...

RG 183 houses the records of the Arlington (Virginia) Council of PTAs (CCPTA). The CCPTA comprises local PTA units from 22 elementary schools, four middle schools, and three high schools in Arlington County. The mission is to promote the goals of PTA: supporting and speaking on behalf of school c...

RG 186 houses Scott McGeary’s personal collection of political materials for Arlington County and Virginia. Types of material include printed campaign literature, sample ballots, photographs, clippings, and a thesis.

The Old Glebe Civic Association (OGCA) is a volunteer organization whose mission is to give Old Glebe neighborhood residents a voice in local, County, and State affairs by serving as a conduit of communication. It was formed in 1974 in reaction to a proposed operation of a commercial tennis camp ...

RG 188, Wakefield High School Student Posters, consists of appoximately 90 posters created by students at Wakefield High School in the southern part of Arlington County. These posters, created on school premises, advertise school events, clubs and activities taking place primarily during the 1969...

The Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia (OTNV) began as the Arlington Music Theatre in 1961. In 1967, the group was formally incorporated “for the purpose of producing professional but accessible opera, normally in English.” The collection contains 3.1 linear feet of records of the Opera Theatre o...

Alice Sufit (1918-2012) was a local activist and teacher. Active in several local civic and political affairs, Sufit played integral roles on many councils, committees, and boards for Arlington County. Additionally, she completed much of her work as a longstanding member of the local chapter of t...

The Potomac Woman’s Club (PWC) is a social organization founded in 1953 by Nell Broyhill, who was wife of the developer M.T. Broyhill and mother of local political leader Joel Broyhill. The collection includes minutes from executive and general meetings spanning 1953-2012, financial and administr...

RG 196: Records of the Syphax Family, 1920-1993 The name Syphax has been present in northern Virginia since the early 1800s. Some historians believe that Maria Carter Syphax might have been the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha...

Originally the Old Dominion Kiwanis Club, the Kiwanis Club of South Arlington was named in 1968 and serves Shirlington, Columbia Pike, and a portion of Alexandria. This collection contains materials donated by John W. Marr and ranges from 1965-2013, but mostly covers the 1990s and early 2000s.

The Neighbors’ Club of Arlington, Virginia, was formed in 1920 by nine women living in Arlington in the vicinity of Glebe Road and Rock Springs Road. This collection dates from 1920-2009 and consists of yearbooks, minutes, budgets, annual reports, and club histories, membership files, newsletters...

Carrie Johnson (1941-2018), originally from Milwaukee, moved to Arlington in 1979 as a speechwriter for Katherine Graham, owner of the Washington Post. She soon became involved with the Arlington County Democratic Committee, keeping track of actual and potential voters and eventually ear...

PG 202, the Palmer Collection (1996-2006), consists of photographs taken by library employee Jim Palmer. His photographs document the changing landscape of Arlington and include images of homes, churches, government buildings, businesses, schools, firehouses, cemeteries ...

These slides are before and after photographs of various locations around Arlington County, taken by photographer Guy W. Starling.  All image titles taken from the photographer's title given to each slide.

PG 212 - Coupled with the Center’s extensive oral history collection, this small collection of photographs, donated to the library in the 1990s, provide a fascinating window into the changing nature of family life and small business ownership along the Columbia Pike corridor betw...

PG 214, Annual Report Photographs, is comprised of photographs identified as Arlington County Annual Report photographs. There are approximately 200 photographs, dating from 1966 to 1970. These photographs were taken with the intent of using them in the published Arlington County Annual Reports f...

PG 215: The Little Tea House, 1921-1925 Following the success of her participation in the early suffrage campaign, Gertrude Crocker settled in Arlington where she and her sister Ruth opened the Little Tea House on Arlington Ridge Road. The Little ...

PG 218, the Ernest E. Johnson Photograph Collection, 1948-1955, consists of images of the Parks and Recreation Department's Negro Recreation Section. The photographs show children and adult activities such as sports teams, dance recitals, plays, parades and award ceremonies. Ernest E. Johnson was...

PG 230, Arlington Historical Society Photographs, are images collected by the Arlington Historical Society over several decades. These images were then donated the Center for Local History in 2006. The images capture a wide variety of Arlington life, showing people, buildings, landscapes, streets...

Donated by Francis Copeland, who rescued them from Hecht's office in D.C., these negatives document the construction of Hecht's and its surrounding Parkington Shopping Center. The photos also offer a glimpse into the 1940s-1950s Ballston neighborhood of Arlington.

PG 250, Documenting Arlington's Changing Scene (1997-2019), is an ongoing collection of images taken by Virginia Room staff that document development throughout the county, including structures and neighborhoods. The collection illustrates Arlington's continually evolvin...

This collection consists of photographs taken by Debbie Ernst while employed by Arlington County. These photos give a robust view of the activities of Arlington County's communities. 

George Melvin Richardson was born March 1, 1913, in Holdenville, Oklahoma. He came to Arlington County in 1954 to become principal of Hoffman-Boston (H-B) elementary and junior-senior high school and remained principal until the last class graduated in 1964.  Mr. Richardson then became vic...

The Crystal Spring Knoll Study Group was formed in 1955 for women in the Crystal Spring Knoll neighborhood; the first meeting was on September 29, 1955. At some point the name changed to the Crystal Spring Study Club. The group started as a reading and discussion group but eventually it became a ...

The Columbia Heights Civic Association (CHCA), founded in 1976, was very active in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was resuscitated in 2001 by neighbors who were “committed to pursuing a Neighborhood Conservation Plan to institute positive changes in our area.” Columbia Heights is located in South ...

Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) was established in 1988 by a small Public-Private Committee to provide access to nutritious, supplemental groceries to Arlington’s underserved communities. This collection primarily contains two types of materials: Board of Directors Meeting Agendas and Not...

RG 322, the Arlington Woman's Club Papers, contains materials from the Arlington Women's Club, 1934-1970.

Charles "Charlie" Rinker and his wife, Lora, moved to Arlington in 1969 to help tackle racism and promote civil rights in a "white community." Most of Charlie's work was done to aid affordable housing initiatives, which this collection focuses on, between the years 1960-2014.

Colonial Village, built in 1936, was the first apartment complex built in Arlington during the Great Depression. RG 325 is made up of materials collected and created by Brian H. Ford, a resident of Colonial Village. This collection dates from 1936 to 2004, with the bulk of materials situated in t...

The American Association of University Women's (AAUW) Arlington Branch was founded in November 1943 with 20 charter members, and received official recognition in 1944. Currently, general membership meetings are held nine times a year, and there are seven interest or study groups. Record Group 33 ...

RG 332: Overlee Preschool Records On August 7, 1945, a group of Arlington parents met to organize their own cooperative preschool. World War II brought an influx of permanent residents to the county: the population doubled between 1940 and 1944. An unprecedented demand for day...

RG 333: Ellen M. Bozman Papers Ellen M. Bozman, a community activist and politician for Arlington County, guided Arlington as it transitioned from a suburban to urban community during the latter half of the 20th century. This collection spans from 1960 to 2003...

Joseph Cloyd Byars, Sr. (1869-1954) was an important real estate developer in Arlington, having built the Alcova Heights community. This collection is a mixture of transactions, other real estate interests in southwestern Virginia and Florida, correspondence, and politics.

Birdie (1919-2020) and Mable (1920-2017) Alston were neighborhood activists and prominent community members in the Halls Hill/Highview Park area. RG 338 consists of publications, flyers, correspondence, event programs, funeral programs, reports, clippings, photographs, and small artifacts, all do...

Thomas E. Derr graduated from Stratford Junior High School (class of 1964) and Washington-Lee High School (class of 1967) in Arlington, now called Washington Liberty High School. Record Group 339 houses his personal papers. The record group measures approximately 1.5 linear feet and dates from 19...

Gail Baker was born and raised in Arlington, Virginia. She grew up in Dominion Hills, attending McKinley Elementary School, Kenmore Middle School, and Washington-Lee High School. She has been heavily involved in historic preservation in the area for over three decades. This collection documents h...

Valerie B. Kitchens was a local activist for conservation, wildlife, parks, and other political issues that impacted Arlington County and Northern Virginia. Kitchens became an influential force in several conservation organizations, including as a board member for Friends of Arlington Parks and t...

RG 349: Dorothy M. Hamm Papers Dorothy Hamm moved into a home she built with her husband Leslie in the High View Park neighborhood in Arlington in 1950. At the time, the historic black neighborhood, established by newly freed enslaved people after the Civil Wa...

Cornelia Bruere Rose Jr. graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1928 with a degree in economics and politics and a minor in history. She then worked as an economist in New York City until her marriage in 1934 to Laszlo Ecker-Racz, also an economist, after which they moved to the Washington area wher...

The Holly Ball was a debutante ball put on by the Arlington Association. The first ball was held in 1955; the Holly Ball is no longer held, but there are no records to indicate when it officially ended. Materials in this collection consist largely of correspondence among Arlington Association Boa...

RG 364 contains materials related to Alice and Harry Olcott’s family and measures 1.17 linear feet. Materials date 1879-2002, and the bulk of the material dates 1902-1950. Most of the materials relate to Alice Hedrick Olcott (often referred to as Mama), Alice Griswold Olcott, Margaret Thompson Ol...

Alcova Heights is a neighborhood in Arlington County, Virginia, developed by Joseph Cloyd Byars and bordered by Glebe Road and George Mason Drive on the east and west sides, and Arlington Boulevard and Columbia Pike on the north and south. This collection mostly documents the workings of the Alco...

Hoffman Boston School was built in 1916 by Noble Thomas, the first African-American to construct a public building in Virginia. Originally known as the Jefferson School, it was later renamed Hoffman-Boston after Edward C. Hoffman, the school’s first principal, and Ella Boston, principal of Kemper...

The Arlington Coalition on Transportation (ACT) was formed by citizens of Arlington County and led by James and Emilia Govan in order to hold the Virginia Department of Highways accountable while constructing I-66.  The collection features many documents created by the organization while a...

RG 380 contains material created and collected by Laurence Potter, measures .21 linear feet, and covers the years 1958-1998. Potter, worried that his home was in the path of the future Interstate 66 (I-66), started sending letters to staff within Arlington County and to the Virginia Department of...

Eleanor Lee Templeman (b.1907-d.1990) grew up in California and lived in Arlington from 1935 until she died in 1990. She served as historian of the Society of the Lees of Virginia, and was an active local historian. The photos in PG 900 are images taken by Mrs. Templeman as part of her research f...