Have you drawn up your will, or organized your estate? Are you doing spring cleaning, or planning to move?
This is a good time to think about where your personal or organizational papers about life and business in Arlington can be donated.
Written records provide essential clues to the past and help researchers understand the history of a community.
In an archival repository like the Center for Local History, professional archivists care for and preserve historically significant documents, as well as ensure the protection and accessibility of the materials they house.
The letters, diaries, photos, minutes, reports and other material that you've collected over the years can provide researchers with important insight - not only into your heritage, but into the history and heritage of the growing and changing community you live in. And when you donate your papers to an archival repository, they will be preserved for future generations and become a part of your community’s collective memory.
Similarly donations from Arlington residents have been essential to the research behind our new online exhibit, Women's Work, as well as Project DAPS (Exploring the Desegregation of Arlington Public Schools) and the NAUCK/Green Valley Heritage Project.
Learn more about how to preserve your documents and artifacts on Tuesday, April 24;
Archival Material That Repositories Collect Include:
Personal papers
- Letters
- Diaries
- Subject files
- Photographs
- Films/video/audiotapes
- Scrapbooks
- Brochures and flyers
Organizational papers
- Minutes of meetings
- Photographs
- Planning documents
- Bylaws and revisions
- Scrapbooks
- Speeches
- Reports
- Pamphlets, brochures, fliers, etc.
By donating your Arlington material to the Center for Local History’s Community Archives you enable us to tell your story and/or the story of your organization, thereby ensuring that your accomplishments and contributions to the community are not forgotten but preserved for the researchers of the future.
For more information, please contact the Center for Local History at (703) 228-5956 or localhistory@arlingtonva.us.
We look forward to making your stories and experiences part of our growing collection.
