Arlington Public Library

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Womens Work: Meet Dr. Knipling, Founder of the Outdoor Lab

Seeking Hands-On Outdoor Experience

After World War II, developers transformed much of Arlington County’s open land into urban neighborhoods, destroying open meadows, forests, and other natural areas. By the mid-1960s, Dr. Phoebe Hall Knipling, Science Supervisor at Arlington Public Schools (and the first person to hold such a position in Virginia), encountered a major challenge to developing the district's science curriculum: her students’ lack of hands-on experiences with nature and wildlife.

Dr. Phoebe Knipling riding a scooter at a science fair
Dr. Knipling at a student science fair

Beginning in the 1950s, Dr. Knipling worked hard to create a more engaging, participatory science curriculum. She started the school system’s annual science fair, a relatively new educational exercise at the time, and ran a summer science program to take students on excursions through natural areas outside the metropolitan area. But Dr. Knipling found it increasingly difficult to locate natural, relatively untouched areas close to Arlington for these field trips.

Dr. Knipling spent three years searching for an undisturbed area to reserve as an outdoor laboratory exclusively for Arlington County students to observe the forces of nature at work.

You can read more about Dr. Knipling and the Outdoor Lab, and view related archival material including additional photos, in the Center for Local History's online exhibit Women's Work: Stories of Persistence and Influence.

 

Introducing “Win a Book Wednesdays”

Win a Copy of "Love and Ruin" by Paula McLain

photo of "Love and Ruin" laying on a deck

About "Love and Ruin"

From a bombed out Madrid during the Spanish Civil War to Omaha Beach on D-Day, Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemmingway fell in and out of love. In the years between, they buy a house in Cuba and write their novels and cover multiple wars across the globe. Gellhorn tries to balance her own career outside of Hemmingway’s shadow with being his wife.

While perfect for fans of McLain’s "The Paris Wife," "Love and Ruin" fully stands on its own. An absorbing and well-placed novel that bounces between the horrors of war and idles of Cuba, from terrible ocean journeys to drinks with Gary Cooper in Sun Valley, this is bound to create legions of new fans for a woman who became one of the 20th century’s most significant war correspondents.

Reviewed for you by Jennie R., Materials Management Librarian.

Want to Win the Book?

  • Leave a comment below on Wednesday, April 11, and include the name of the last great book that you read.
  • Everyone who leaves a comment here, on Facebook or on Twitter will be entered into a random drawing (Library employees are not eligible).
  • The winner will be contacted by email on Thursday morning, April 12.
  • The winner can pick up their prize at the Library location of their choice.

Win a Book Wednesdays will take place at least once a month. Prize books are Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) of books that will be added to the Library collection within the next month, and can already be found in the Library catalog as "on order."

ARCs are uncorrected proofs given to the Library for review purposes only, and are not for sale.

 

Online Library Accounts and Web Services Temporarily Unavailable on Tuesday, April 3

Due to planned system maintenance, library accounts and other library web services will be temporarily unavailable on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m.

During this time, online access to library accounts, research databases and other account-based systems will be unavailable from the website, as well as from inside Library. In addition, the Library catalog may not accurately reflect item availability during this time. Please check back Tuesday afternoon to use these services.

Libraries will open on their regular schedule, and patrons will still be able to check physical items out from inside the the Library.

Thank you for your patience as we perform this necessary system maintenance.

 

March 31: “Women Making History” Small Business Fair

Looking Towards the Future

As we conclude Women’s History Month, join us to celebrate Arlington women who make history every day in the operation of local businesses and non-profits.

The “Women Making History” Small Business Fair will feature representatives of Arlington County-based businesses showcasing and demonstrating their products and services. The event will feature a keynote speech by Karen Bate of Awesome Women Entrepreneurs.

RSVP for an event reminder; attendance is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Presented in partnership by Arlington Public Library and Arlington Economic Development’s BizLaunch.

Women’s Work

Hidden Stories of Persistence and Influence

Librarians of Cherrydale Branch Library, August 1961

Many years ago, I was attending a party for Charlie, a work colleague who was retiring. It came time to cut the cake and he turned to me - one of the few women in the room - and asked me to do it, adding that it was “women’s work, anyway.”

At the time, I was the assistant division chief responsible for a couple of hundred employees. But to him, I was a woman and he was not, and there were tasks - cake cutting among them - that it was my “job” to do.

Rather than demur, I did as I was asked, and yet never forgot the experience.

Today (with a bit of tongue in cheek) and in honor of Women’s History month, Arlington Public Library launches a new digital exhibition: 

Women’s Work: Stories of Persistence and Influence

A New Online Exhibit from the Center for Local History

Education
Entrepreneurs
Libraries
Politics
Social Activism

The collection profiles the women who made Arlington the community it is today. Entrepreneurs, activists, educators, politicians, and homemakers, the women of Arlington helped found Arlington’s first hospital, fought to integrate the school system, and established the Black Heritage museum. Even the public library system we enjoy today, a vibrant system comprised of a Central library and seven branches, exists because of the largesse of citizen bequests and the vision and hard work of leaders of Arlington women’s civic and garden clubs who understood only too well that knowledge is a core service. Several years ago, sociologist Robert Putnam warned in “Bowling Alone” that civic engagement was dying and with it the life and hope of communities. But Putnam doesn’t know Arlington’s residents, particularly its women.

As the exhibit unfolds over the upcoming year, through photographs, personal papers, and oral histories, you will find the story of Dr. Phoebe Hall Knipling, science teacher and founder of the Arlington Outdoor Education Association and its 225-acre Lab in Fauquier County, where Arlington students can experience nature and learn how to protect the environment. And Elizabeth Campbell, board member for Arlington Public Schools and founder of WETA-TV, the first public television station in Washington, D.C. And entrepreneur Margarite Reed Syphax, who began a real estate and construction business with her husband William, and who was one of the first black business women to be designated a Certified Property Manager.

This first release presents several stories and over the next year, we will continue to add more. But this collection will never be complete because a “woman’s work is never done.”

Diane

Scrawled DK signature

If you know of an Arlington woman who should be included in this exhibition or if you possess artifacts or other source materials of Arlington women that you would like to donate to the community archive, please contact the staff of the Center for Local History.

Talking Books for People with Vision and Physical Impairments

For People Who Want to Read, But Can’t Use Traditional Books

Arlington residents who are unable to read print, or hold a book, can sign up for the National Library Service’s free Braille & Talking Books & Magazines service through the Library.

The National Library Service also provides BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) and Web-Braille materials.

Learn how to use Talking Books through the Arlington Public Library.

Call 703-228-6333 or email talkingbooks@arlingtonva.us for more information.

All Youth Services Programs Are Canceled Friday, March 2

Because Arlington Public Schools are closed Friday, March 2 due to unusually high winds and power outages, all preschool storytimes and other Youth Services programs are also canceled.

It is Library policy that, for safety, Library children’s programs are canceled when Arlington Public Schools are closed for inclement weather.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

Central Library Upgrade: March 1 Update

Phase 1 Update, as of March 1

Estimated completion of the Central Upgrade is Winter 2018/19. During the work, Central Library will remain open on our regular schedule.

photo of walls being built for new meeting rooms

Walls going up for new meeting rooms and the Friends of the Library Bookstore.

Behind the Scenes on the 1st Floor…

  • Drywall installation is underway, and the new meeting room spaces and the Friends Bookstore are beginning to take shape.
  • New wall and floor outlets are being installed in the meeting spaces, as well as the Reading Area next to the Circulation desk.

Phase Two of the upgrade is currently scheduled to begin in May.

 

Get all the latest news on the Central Library Upgrade.

 



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