Any holds set to expire July 3 - 4 will be held for pickup until Monday, July 6.
All Arlington County County Government Offices and Facilities will be closed on Friday, July 3 and Saturday, July 4.
Learn how to celebrate Independence Day safely in Arlington this year.
The 2020 census is currently underway nationally – but what did the census look like in the past?
The U.S. census is a ten-year event in the United States, as stipulated in the constitution in Article I, Section 2, empowering Congress to carry out the census in “such manner as they shall by Law direct.” Every decade, each household gets a chance to count themselves, contributing data that determines nearly $1 trillion of funding that is distributed on the local level as well as congressional apportionment.
Image courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau.
The first U.S. census was taken in 1790 and counted 3.9 million residents in the whole of the country. The census has occurred every 10 years since – making it one of the very first and longest-lasting actions made by our early government. The early censuses were conducted by assistant U.S. marshals who were instructed to “make a just and perfect enumeration and description of all persons … according to the best of [their] ability.” Virginia is part of Region 3, Division 2, of the census’ designated statistical regions and is part of the South Atlantic group. Arlington was part of the first 1790 census, however, the residents of what is now Arlington County would have been counted under the regional designation of Fairfax County.
A census enumerator’s records from the 1790 census. Image courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Although you can now take the census by multiple methods, early copies of the census were completed exclusively by paper. Early iterations of the census show a much different set of questions that are now included in a modern-day census.
There were only six questions on the first census – the name of the white, male householder, and then the names of all the other people in the household, divided into these categories: Free white males who were at least 16 years old; free white males who were under 16 years old; free white females; all other free persons; and slaves, who under the constitution were counted as three-fifths of a person. These questions highlight the fundamental inequalities that determined life at this point in U.S. history and are cause to reflect on who was counted, how they were counted, and who got to do the counting – all important questions when evaluating census data from a historical lens.
Excerpts from the 1790 census highlighting Virginia. Image courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Over the years, the census has changed its format and its questions. The 1870 census was the first to eliminate what was called the “slave questionnaire,” and was reordered after the conclusion of the Civil War to only include schedules for "General Population," "Mortality," "Agriculture," "Products of Industry," and "Social Statistics."
The census only started counting Native Americans in 1860 and started including Native Americans living on reservations in 1890. Other racial categories on the census also developed into the latter half of the 19th century as immigration from non-European countries increased. These categories are an ever-developing part of the census and continue to diversify today. (For a more detailed look at how the U.S. census has historically measured race in the U.S., Science News has an overview of some of the key changes the census has seen.)
An example of an 1870 census schedule. Image courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Some other technical changes have occurred over the years as well: the 1810 Census collected economic data on the quantity and value of manufactured goods, expanding for the first time on the original six questions. In 1850, the census began collecting "social statistics,” such as information about taxes, education, crime, and value of estate, and mortality data. In 1940, in response to the devastation of the Great Depression, additional questions were asked of a sample of the population, including questions on internal migration, veteran status, and the number of children ever born to women. In recent decades, the census has turned toward more simplified forms – the 2000 census was the shortest since 1820, with only seven questions on the short form, and this trend has continued up to today.
Other changes over the years have included the methods of taking the census: the 1960 census was the first census to be mailed out to households and was the first year the census results were counted by computer. This year’s census is the first with the option to complete the form by phone or online.
Another historical development to this year’s census is it is the first to include a question about same-sex relationships, where respondents can identify as “same-sex husband/wife/spouse” or “same-sex unmarried partner.”
A census-taker circa 1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Want to learn more? You can explore historical census data through the county going back to 2000. This site also includes maps and other data related to the history and demographics of Arlington. You can also search through historical census documents through the National Archives’ digital collections.
Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share?
Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.
Central Library is currently the only available pickup location.
To receive frozen holds, log into your account and click on “thaw” next to each item that you are ready to receive.
If you do not wish to pick up your holds at Central Library, you may cancel them or keep them frozen (frozen holds keep their place in line). Once other pickup locations are available you will be able to thaw your hold and update the pickup location.
When you place a new hold, only Central Library will be an option for holds pickup until Branch locations reopen for holds pickup.
For our newest issue of Quaranzine, we had called for art and media that promote social justice, inclusion, racial equity, and accountability. But upon further reflection, work that addresses the work of antiracism can't be designated to a "special issue." We hope and expect that our community response to these issues will be ongoing, and we will continue to accept work on the topic of anti-racism for as long as Quaranzine runs.
The next deadline for submissions to Quaranzine is Thursday, July 2.
Sign photographed on the wall surrounding the White House at Black Lives Matter Plaza.
When I was attending Arlington Public Schools in the 1960s and early 1970s (Yorktown High School Class of 1972), I didn’t learn about Juneteenth, the date commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. I didn’t learn about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, either. And the study of literature by African-American authors had only just begun with works like “Blues for Mister Charlie” by James Baldwin.
As Director of Arlington Public Library, I have an opportunity each day to ensure dates in our history like those cited above are recognized and understood through our collections and programs and through modeling the Library’s values of acceptance and inclusion.
From time to time, we have created music playlists to capture a moment. Many of you are familiar with my annual holiday playlist. When the pandemic hit, we created “Dancing with Myself: Playlist for a Pandemic.”
Now, with conversations about race front and center across the nation, we turn again to music.
Music heals, music unites, and music can change minds.
Black Lives Matter Plaza, June 7.
Protesters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, June 6.
The late great First Lady of Soul, Aretha Franklin, who knew something about music, once said, “Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It's transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It's uplifting, it's encouraging, it's strengthening.”
So with those words in mind ... press play and play it loud and proud.
Diane K.
Before European colonization, a Necostin Native American village was located on the land near the current Village at Shirlington shopping center.
Shirlington Branch Library, circa 2007.
On January 21, 1705, William Struttfield, one of 48 original settlers who owned land in present-day Arlington, patented a 543-acre tract south of Four Mile Run that included what is now Shirlington. He sold the land to Colonel John Carlyle and it stayed in the Carlyle family into the mid-19th century.
The hill southwest of present-day Shirlington served as a fortification within the Defenses of Washington that were erected by Union forces during the Civil War. Fort Blenker, later renamed Fort Reynolds, was built in 1861 and selected by the Union due to the view it afforded of the valley along Four Mile Run.
Map of the Environs of Washington: Compiled from Boschkes’ Map of the District of Columbia and From Surveys of the U.S. Coast Survey showing the Line of Defenses of Washington as Constructed during the War from 1861 to 1865 Inclusive. The red arrow points to Fort Reynolds and the blue arrow points to the approximate present-day location of the Village at Shirlington. Source: Library of Congress.
Joseph Cherner, a Jewish immigrant from Russia with a successful car dealership and repair shop, considered opening an airport near Four Mile Run but decided to invest in a shopping center instead. He purchased 200,000 cubic yards of fill to raise the grade by as much as 13 feet, channelized two creeks, and constructed roads and alleyways through the property. Cherner attracted new businesses to the development by offering tenants very low rental rates in exchange for a percentage of the businesses’ profits. He combined the names of nearby Shirley Highway (Interstate 395) and Arlington to name the area. The proximity to this still-under-construction roadway was meant to promote traffic to the new shopping center.
The shopping center opened in December 1943, with a supermarket, gift shop, clothing cleaners, beauty parlor, and shoe repair shop in one-story storefronts of limestone and granite construction with Art Deco architectural detailing. The layout of the streets was as it is now, with the shops facing each other across a central median. More stores opened in 1944, including a Gulf filling station which is likely the extant gas station but with substantial changes
While stores allowed African Americans patrons to shop, they were barred from services, such as eating at lunch counters and restaurants and using leisure facilities. This was particularly difficult for residents of Fort Barnard Heights and Green Valley, the primarily African American communities next to the shopping center.
Following Joseph Cherner’s death in 1956, his wife Ruth (née Schlom) Cherner, assumed the role of the president of the Shirlington Corporation. She led the company through a land swap with Arlington County’s Property Yard in May 1957 that increased acreage at the north boundary of the Shirlington Business Center by seven acres. She became a prominent businesswoman in the Arlington real estate market. Lansburgh’s Department Store opened in September 1959 on the former Property Yard land and served as a new retail anchor for the shopping center.
Bird’s eye view rendering of Lansburgh’s Department Store at the Shirlington Shopping Center, 1962. Source: Arlington Blu Book, 1962, Center for Local History Archives, Arlington County Public Library.
In January 1960, the Nauck Citizens’ Association (a precursor to the present-day Green Valley Civic Association) proposed a business district along South Shirlington Road to offer services to people of color. This business area would include a motel, theater, restaurant, bowling alley, and office space for professional services. Lutrelle F. Parker, chairman of the Nauck Citizens’ Association, asserted that they did not intend for the business center to detract from desegregation efforts that were currently being undertaken throughout the south. Rather the citizens’ group aimed to supply necessary services to African American citizens until other commercial areas were desegregated.
In June 1960, spurred by protest movements across America, black and white college students held sit-ins at lunch counters around Arlington including Lansburgh’s Colonial Room and Woolworth’s lunch counter in Shirlington. Both businesses responded by closing their counters. After negotiations between demonstrators and business owners, Woolworth’s in Shirlington was the first lunch counter to desegregate on June 22, serving a group of black and white students. Woolworth’s action was followed that same day as Lansburgh’s, Kahn’s, Peoples, and Drug Fair desegregated their Arlington restaurants.
June 10, 1960, Gwendolyn Green (later Britt) and David Hartsough sit at the People’s Drug Store counter. Protests such as this happened at counters in seven locations in Arlington including two in Shirlington. DC Public Library, Star Collection, ©Washington Post.
The popularity of Shirlington declined in the mid-1960s and into the 1970s with the opening of several new shopping centers. In the early-1970s, Shirlington Business Center saw the closure of many of its anchor retail stores. Jelleff’s closed in 1972, followed shortly by Lansburgh’s (which was replaced by Best Products) and the Shirlington Motor Company’s Ford dealership, both in 1973.
Several revitalizations were considered, including one featuring a manmade lagoon. The owners abandoned this project before construction began. In July 1982, a new $250-million renovation began, led by developer Oliver T. Carr. Carr’s plan called for up to 429,000 square feet of additional retail space and 694,000 square feet of office space in 8- to 12-story buildings. It also included the construction of a 400-room hotel and 590 condominium units. The limestone and granite façades of the existing buildings were reused while most of the ground level architecture and all the interiors were demolished. The 1987 finished design included copper turrets and domes crowning the buildings at the entrance off South Randolph Street, Victorian-era inspired street lighting, cut-throughs for increased pedestrian circulation, and a large Beaux-Arts fountain in the central median.
Redesigned 28th Street South (renamed Campbell Avenue in 2007), 1986. Source: Benjamin Forgey, “In Shirlington, Main Street Revisited,” The Washington Star, November 1, 1986, Center for Local History Archives, Arlington County Public Library.
Federal Realty Investment Trust purchased what is now known as the ‘Village at Shirlington’ in 1996. In November 2006, the new Shirlington Town Center was unveiled, including the Shirlington Branch Library and a new location for the Signature Theatre Company. In July 2007, the County changed the name of 28th Street South to Campbell Avenue in honor of Edmund and Margaret Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, who were instrumental in desegregating Arlington’s public schools. Elizabeth Campbell founded and was later president of WETA public broadcasting station, located in Shirlington.
Joseph and Ruth Cherner’s 1943 vision is still a destination shopping location in Arlington. The popularity of this neighborhood hub is evidence of the Cherners’ shrewd perception of the retail services the community needed.
View of the Shirlington shopping complex looking east from the median on Campbell Avenue, 2019. Source: Arlington County Historic Preservation Program.
"Preservation Today: Rediscovering Arlington" is a partnership between the Arlington Public Library and the Arlington County Historic Preservation Program.
Preservation Today: Rediscovering Arlington
Stories from Arlington’s Historic Preservation Program
Arlington’s heritage is a diverse fabric, where people, places, and moments are knitted together into the physical and social landscape of the County.
Arlington County’s Historic Preservation Program is dedicated to protecting this heritage and inspiring placemaking by uncovering and recognizing all these elements in Arlington’s history.
To learn more about historic sites in Arlington, visit the Arlington County Historic Preservation Program.
We are aware of these issues related to the System Upgrade, and are working to resolve them as quickly as possible.
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If you know your library card number and the email address in your library account, you can reset your password.
If you don't know your library card number or have access to email, please contact us for help. |
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Some users may experience issues logging into library databases and eCollection products. |
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After thawing your holds, your placement in line will fluctuate as other patrons with holds on the same titles thaw or freeze their holds. |
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Due to Library System upgrade, saved Lynda playlists are currently not available. |
There are three steps you need to take action on - set your new password, thaw your holds and update your preferences.
Log In - Your PIN has been replaced with a temporary password. Follow these instructions to log into your account with your username and temporary password.
If none of the temporary passwords work, you can reset your password if you know your library card number and the email address in your library account.
If none of the temporary passwords work and you don't know your library card number, please contact us for help.
Set Your New Password - After logging into your account, set a new password using the account settings menu.
At this time, you can not set your new password via the Library App.
Library App - To access your account in the Library App, log in with your new password. You may see a warning message about your credentials being out of date. If so follow the prompts to update your saved password.
Holds Pickup Service will begin at Central Library only starting Monday, June 15.
Please Note - Fine payment will remain unavailable; please check back for updates.
All Library facilities are currently closed. Overdue fines are not accruing on materials currently checked out. Stay tuned for more news about the system upgrade and how these changes will affect your Library account. Updates will be posted to the Library Services News and Updates page of the Library website.
Questions? Contact us by phone or through Online Chat and Text.
As always, thank you for your continued patience and support.
Central Library Auditorium
1015 N Quincy St
Arlington VA 22201
Important Dates:
The following plans and procedures are tentative and will be adjusted as necessary. Please check back often for updates.
Questions? Contact us by Phone or through Online Chat and Text.
Q. What Library services will be available starting Monday, June 15?
Q. What safety measures will be in place?
Q. What parking will be available?
Please park in the surface parking lots at Central Library. The parking garage is currently closed to the public.
Q. What is the process for holds pickup?
Patrons will line up at six-foot intervals outside library entrance closest to the tennis courts / surface parking lot. Access to the auditorium will be metered. Once inside the auditorium, three service stations will be available. Library staff will retrieve your holds, check them out to you, and pass them to you with no/limited contact. Patrons will exit across the Auditorium, through the doors onto the garden porch and walk down the pathway to the parking lot.
Restrooms will not be available to the public.
Q. What is the process for account services?
Basic account services such as applying for and renewing library cards can be handled at the auditorium service points. The process is the same as for holds pickup.
Q. Will the library limit the size of families/groups?
When possible, please send one household member to retrieve holds. Please bring the associated library card for any holds you are picking up. You may also use the library app to manage all the accounts from one household, and to access digital library cards for each account.
Q. I have a condition that prevents me from standing in line. How can I get my holds?
If you are in need of accessibility accommodation, you can schedule your holds pickup by calling the Library at 703-228-5990.
Q. How long will my holds remain at Central for pickup once I am notified that they are available?
Until further notice, holds will remain on the shelf for 10 days.
Q. I currently have a hold on my account that is ready for pickup (on the hold shelf since before the closure). How can I receive it?
All holds that were ready for pickup prior to the closure have been moved to the Auditorium at Central Library. These holds will be available for pickup on June 15 and will be held for 10 days. If you do not wish to collect your hold you do not need to contact the library; all holds will be automatically reshelved after 10 days.
Q. What about the holds on my account that are not yet ready?
All holds placed before June 15 have been frozen, and as of June 22 the pickup location has been changed to Central (the only available location). Frozen holds keep their place in line but do not come ready.
To receive your holds at Central, log into your account and click on "thaw" next to each item that you are ready to receive.
You may also cancel any holds you no longer want or need.
Q. I thawed my holds, and now I'm number 1 for a number of items that had long wait times... What happened?
After thawing your holds, your placement in line for each item will fluctuate as other patrons with holds on the same titles thaw or freeze their holds.
Q. I have holds that were previously set for pick up at a location besides Central Library.
As of June 22, all holds set to pick up at other locations have been set to Central Library. To receive these holds, log into your account and click on "thaw" next to each item that you are ready to receive.
If you do not wish to pick up your holds at Central Library, you may cancel them or keep them frozen (frozen holds keep their place in line) until your preferred location reopens for pickup service. At that time you will need to thaw the hold.
When you place a new hold, only Central Library will be an option for holds pick up until Branch locations reopen for holds pickup.
Q. How long will it take for my holds to come in?
There will be a delay in filling many holds as all returned Library materials will be quarantined upon return for 72 hours.
Q. How many holds can I have on my account?
You can have as many as 30 holds at a time in any status (ready, frozen, not ready, etc.).
Q. How can I return Library materials?
Please do not rush to return materials! Library materials must be quarantined upon return, and the Library does not have space to receive all the returns at once. Due dates for materials checked out before the closure have been staggered throughout the summer to avoid overloading return bins.
Beginning Monday, June 15, you can begin to return Library materials to the exterior book drops at Central Library and all Branch Library locations. All library materials can now be returned in the bookdrop including DVDs, games, dolls, etc.
Returns will not be accepted in the Central Library Auditorium.
Q. What is the disinfectant process for Library materials?
Library materials will be set aside for 72 hours before being processed. Library staff will practice appropriate safety procedures as laid out by County health officials, and may adjust procedures based on the latest research and guidance.
You may opt to set aside library materials for 72 hours after you receive them.
Q. Am I accruing overdue fees on materials I checked out before the closure?
All due dates on material checked out before June 15 have been extended to July 1, 2020 or later. Due dates have been staggered over the summer to avoid a rush of returns. Please check your account for specific due dates. No daily overdue fees will accrue on these materials.
Q. How can I pay fines and fees I owe?
Fine payment is not available online or at Central Library at this time. If your card is blocked due to overdue fines, please contact us.
Q. Is the Library going “Fine Free”?
Daily library overdue fees were eliminated in the FY21 Arlington County Budget. No new daily overdue fees will accrue after July 1, 2020. Lost material fees and other service fees will still apply. Overdue fees charged before July 1, 2020 will remain due on library accounts.
Q. Are you accepting book donations?
No. The Library cannot accept book donations at this time. We cannot store any donated books - please do not leave them at any library location.
Q. I’d like to volunteer at the Library.
The Library is unable to accommodate volunteers during this phase of reopening. We will welcome our volunteers back as soon as we can safely do so.
Q. When will the Library fully reopen?
The safety of our staff and patrons is our primary concern. Arlington Public Library does not currently have a timeline for reopening to other services. The Library will work closely with Arlington County leadership and medical authorities to evaluate the ongoing situation. Please stay tuned, we will announce when we are able to safely open additional library services. We thank patrons for their patience as we work to safely reopen our library system.
Did we forget something? Let us know in the comments.
We have compiled a list of books, movies, podcasts, articles, and organizations where you can learn more about structural racism in the United States, how to engage with and act against anti-black racism, and what you can do to eradicate systematic racism and fight for justice in your community.
Those with the greatest privilege have the most power to make change. When you, your family, and the people around you understand how race, racism, and white privilege impacts society, then you can more effectively engage in the fight against racism.
