Alert

Holiday: All library locations closed Fri., June 19, for Juneteenth. More Info

Alert

Update: Elevator outages, maintenance and upgrades at Central Library More Info

Alert

Storytimes Will “Take a Nap” through June 20 More Info

Arlington Public Library

Web Editor

Where Were These Photos Taken?

Can you guess the location of these images? 

Here are a few clues:

  • The photos were taken in the early 1960s, shortly after the building was completed.
  • This building was the first publicly financed construction project for this County department, and has housed this department since the 1960s - although it underwent a major renovation in the early 1990s.
  • In 1995, the department installed the first public internet terminals with the help of a grant.

If you guessed that the photos feature Central Library, you are correct!

Although Central Library no longer looks the way it did in these photos, the spirit of the Library has remained the same – to serve the residents of Arlington County and create space for culture and connection.

To learn more about the history of Arlington Public Library visit The Center for Local History's online exhibit “Women’s Work.”

To see more photos from Arlington’s diverse history visit the Center for Local History, located on the 1st floor of Central Library.

Neighborhood Activist Joan Cooper

For nearly 50 years, community activist and Nauck resident Joan Cooper worked for change in her neighborhood. 

She also challenged others to make changes to improve the community, stating, “People have to realize, that we as community members have to do our job, too.”

During her active years Cooper helped to advocate for an integrated school system in Arlington County, drove individuals to drug and alcohol detox programs, helped patrol corner blocks of the Nauck neighborhood, and worked tirelessly to rid her streets of illicit narcotics.

“Be persistent, consistent, and insistent,” was her message, and in July 1992, through an initiative called “Crackdown on Drugs,” Cooper’s efforts and leadership on this campaign were recognized by then President George H.W. Bush, when he visited Drew Model School.

cooper003

In the same year, she was also named a Notable Woman of Arlington by the County’s Commission on the Status of Women.

To learn more about Joan Cooper, make an appointment to visit the Center for Local History.  located on the 1st floor of Central Library. To learn more about the Green Valley neighborhood you can also visit the the Green Valley Heritage Project page.

How To Prepare Tin Cans For Collection in 1943

This colorful advertisement from 1943, produced by the Arlington County Salvage Committee, describes “To the Housewives of Arlington County” how to properly clean and prepare tin cans for recycling in order to aid war efforts during WWII.

The two sided circular, which “makes known to you the vital need of tin in the War effort,” is part of the Robert McAtee, (1913-2014) archival collection. Mr. McAtee, who lived in Arlington for most his life, and in the Maywood neighborhood for decades, owned Seven Corners Rentals on Leesburg Pike. McAtee was an active community historian who documented both his neighborhood and physical changes throughout Arlington county. Thanks to donors like Mr. McAtee, who spent a majority of his life collecting material culture about Arlington County, historians today are able to see the significant shifts and changes of the community over the last century.

To learn more about Robert McAtee, life in Arlington during WWII, or to see more items like this, visit the Center for Local History located on the 1st floor of Central Library.

The Columbia News

“What the old year has done for us is this; it has brought everything forward to the point where hope is real, and apt to blossom in full at any moment. It has turned hope into practical assurance. In this way we can say wholeheartedly to each other, and to the world at large – “Happy New Year!”

This January 1, 1945 message of hope was made during World War 2, from a short lived, hyper local newspaper called the Columbia News.

The Columbia News was published semimonthly in Arlington from 1941 - 1945, by Eugene Beard, starting on January 18, 1941. The Center for Local History holds the Vol. 1, No. 1 edition, some from 1944, and some from 1945. We are in the process of digitizing these holdings, and they will soon be available to view through the Library catalog. (The Library of Congress and the Library of Virginia also have some editions on microfilm.)

To see more historic newspapers like this one, visit us at the Center for Local History located on the 1st floor of Central Library.

Holiday Postcard Collection

Did you know that the study and collection of postcards is called Deltiology?

This 1910 postcard depicts a cheerful traveler braving the snowy roads in an open topped roadster, laden with holly and holiday cheer, on the way to celebrate Christmas with friends or family...

The Center for Local History has a large collection of holiday themed postcards from the early-to-mid 20th Century. Most are colorful, ornate, and have a slogan of merriment wishing the receiver good tidings, like this one. There are also postcards for birthdays, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, and the Fourth of July.

The first American postcard was pressed in 1873. Postcards quickly became an inexpensive form of communication, growing in popularity throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries. They are still sold around the world as a way to share the story of your journey and adventures, or to just send a “hello” to your loved ones.

To see the postcard collection, or learn more about Arlington’s diverse history, visit us at the Center for Local History located on the 1st floor of Central Library.

The Dudley Family Home

Oh, to sled down that hill...

The Dudley Family Home stood on a hill on North Military Road - the same hill where you now find the Cherrydale Branch Library, one of Arlington’s beloved neighborhood libraries.

This photo, taken in the 1920s, comes from the Dudley Family Photographs, 1920-1950 collection. The collection contains an assortment of intimate family portraits, beach adventures, local business, and street scenes, taken mostly during the 1920s and 1930s. Examining the Dudley Family images allows viewers to step back into time and feel as though we are part of their adventures…

To learn more about The Dudley Family, Cherrydale Branch Library, Arlington’s diverse history, or to see more images like this, visit us at the Center for Local History located on the 1st floor of Central Library.

Wakefield High School Student Posters

The students who attended Wakefield High School during the 1969/1970 school year were a busy and creative group.

From after school clubs to theater productions; from student body elections to themed dances; Wakefield students showcased their events, programs and causes with simple but effective hand silkscreened posters:

David Crist, graduate of Wakefield Class of 1970, saved and donated over 90 of these posters to the Center for Local History.

The first image above features an advertisement for “The Night Before Christmas Fashion Show" from December 1969, and was silk screened onto either poster board or construction paper. In a very era-appropriate touch, the poster highlights that “Fashions by Sears” were to be modeled at the evening’s 8:00 p.m. production.

The Center for Local History's online Community Archives includes a large number of high-resolution images of the Wakefield 1969-970 Student Posters.

“Too Cool for Yule” 2018

A number of years ago, I began creating the holiday play list, variously known as “Don’t Touch that Dial,” the “Too Cool for Yule” blog, and more simply, the Director’s Playlist.

It’s a collection of seasonal tunes that I look forward to assembling each year, right around the time holiday music earwigs begin their assault on the senses.  From schlock (hopefully not too much of that) to rock, over the years we have managed to amass quite an eclectic set of “mix tapes,” and this year is no exception.

Black and white filtered photo of pine trees on the edge of a lake in winter

Before you start clicking and singing along, however, a couple of explanatory notes (pun intended) are in order:

In August, the magnificent voice of the Queen of Soul was silenced.  Like many in my age cohort, Aretha Franklin’s music was a soundtrack to my life.  Represented here by a swinging “Blue Holiday” from her second album, it’s a brilliant reminder that ‘Retha was as deft with the keyboard as she was with her vocal chops.

Paul Simon and Joan Baez launched Farewell Tours (NB: sorta kinda, Baez is briefly rebooting in April) and are represented by “Getting Ready for Christmas Day” and “Amazing Grace,” respectively.

I’ve closed the list with two “secular” selections. While libraries were not exactly what Bob Dylan had in mind when he penned the classic, “Shelter from the Storm,” we are indeed that for many in our community - an inclusive and safe place for knowledge, for belonging and for comfort.

And finally, 2018 was the centenary of American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein’s birth and I have chosen to give him the last “word.” Jazz pianist Bill Evans’s emotional rendering of Bernstein’s “Some Other Time” from the buoyant “On the Town” is a pitch perfect ballad for this time of year, when we recall where we’ve been and anticipate where we are going if we have the luxury of time.

“Where has the time all gone to

Haven't done half the things we want to

Oh well, we'll catch up some other time”

Whether you eat Chinese food and see a movie on Christmas Day, attend church, binge on Netflix, curl up with a good book or board game you borrowed from the library, or sit quietly with your thoughts, all of us at Arlington Public Library wish you and yours the very best.

DK

Scrawled signature of Diane Kresh

Murphy & Ames Lumber and Hardware

Arlington has long been home to many flourishing small businesses, including the original Murphy & Ames lumber and hardware company:

Located in Rosslyn from 1908 to the 1960s, Murphy & Ames became known as a prominent company in the County. In 1951 a fire consumed their Rosslyn flagship store, but the devastation did not deter then President, W.P. Ames, Sr. He quickly rebuilt and expanded the company’s service offerings, even adding a new location in Falls Church.

The company’s goal was to serve Arlington County’s (and the surrounding communities) changing landscape and building needs. With the 1950s and 1960s housing boom, Murphy & Ames began to offer additional services, such as having an expert millwork craftsmen on-hand, and the company worked diligently to attend and serve Arlington’s ever-growing and ever-changing population.

By the early-to-mid 1960s, Murphy & Ames had expanded to Fairfax and Herndon thanks to the opening of I-66. Now with four stores in full operation, W.P. Ames made the decision to close and ultimately tear down his Rosslyn store. A ten-story office building was built on the former site, and with the continual decline of residential growth in Rosslyn, the area became an urban hub for office spaces through the remaining decades of the 20th Century.

To learn more about Murphy & Ames, or Arlington’s diverse history, visit the Center for Local History located on the 1st floor of Central Library.

Oral History: Dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Arlington Voices the Oral History Collection

Interview with Agnes Quade

In observance of Veteran’s Day, the staff at the Center for Local History present a clip of an oral history interview with Charles and Agnes Quade, who recalls attending the first dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, at Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1932. After some research about Sgt. Frank Witchey (spelled Witchie here) we have determined that Mrs. Quade misspoke during her interview and based on her information about meeting the Sergeant, she was actually there on the original dedication date in November 1921 (thank you to an eagle-eyed patron for pointing this out to us!).

In this segment, Mrs. Quade shares her memories of seeing Sergeant Witchey - a man her husband would eventually meet - play Taps at the Unknown Soldier’s tomb.

NARRATOR: Agnes Quade
INTERVIEWER: Theda Nichols
DATE: May 3, 1975

TN: Now, while we’re on the War subject, didn’t you tell me that you had attended the first dedication of the Unknown Soldier in 1932?

AQ: Yes.

TN: Uh-huh.

AQ: I did.

TN: Could you tell me what you remember about that?

AQ: And that was just a wonderful, impressive occasion. I went out to the National Cemetery, to the Amphitheater. And my mother was here from Atlanta, Georgia, at the time – had come 600 miles; and I thought, “Oh, how wonderful [that] we are here for such a solemn day.” It meant so much to everyone.
And when we arrived, out at the Cemetery, I asked one of the men who had charge of the services if it would be possible that we could get a seat.
And he said, “Oh, no!” – that all the seats were taken, and that others – we just didn’t have any room for anyone else in the Amphitheater; we could stand outside, and we could hear, probably.
And I said, “But my mother’s here, and she’s from Atlanta, Georgia.”
He said, “Just a minute, Lady.”
And over he came with two tickets, which I still have – and I treasure! – and brought me a program. And he ushered us in to about the fourth row of the Amphitheater.
And it was a very solemn service. I have Kodak pictures of the first Unknown Soldier’s Tomb – with the wreath, and with the colors, the flags, and the different divisions of the military, which were at that particular service.
And I would like to add there that the man, who was Sgt. Witchie, is a wonderful bugler – played “Taps” that day over the Unknown Soldier’s Tomb – on November the 11th, 1932.
And in several years, my husband happened to meet Sgt. Witchie; and now we have an autographed copy, a picture, framed, of him playing “Taps” at the Unknown Soldier’s Tomb on November the 11th, 1932.

You can find Charles and Agnes Quade’s interview in its entirety at the Center for Local History- VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.2 no.24 

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

What is the oral history collection?

Oral history is a popular method of research used for understanding historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of people’s personal experiences.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.



Download the Library App