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Partnership between DTS and Library Creates Summer Reading Success

AFAC is the 2021 Recipient of the Summer Reading Challenge Donation

On Wednesday, Sep. 15, representatives of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library (FOAL), together with the Arlington County Departments of Library and Technology Services, presented a $4,525 check to the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC). The donation represents the number of Library readers who successfully completed the 2021 Summer Reading Challenge.

The contribution to AFAC demonstrates the power of collaboration between two Arlington County departments, one nonprofit and the important work AFAC is doing for our hungry neighbors in need. AFAC has been distributing groceries to families in need every week in Arlington since 1988 and provided 3 million pounds of food to underserved communities in FY20.

Representatives from the Department of Technology Services and the Library with harles Meng, Chief Executive Officer at AFAC.

(Left to right) David Herlihy, Division Chief, Digital Experience and Innovation, Department of Technology Services, Charles Meng, Chief Executive Officer, AFAC and Diane Kresh, Director, Arlington Public Library.

Read the full news release here.

Since its inception, the Library app has been downloaded more than 42,000 times. App users can use the technology for easy account management, catalog search and meeting room bookings.

“We are fortunate to have partners like the DTS staff who understand what public service is. The app increases our ability to reach patrons and made a big difference with our Summer Reading programs,” said Diane Kresh, Director, Arlington Public Library.

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Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at the Library

2021

September 15 - October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month, a time when we honor the cultures and contributions of both Hispanic and Latino Americans as we celebrate heritage rooted in all Latin American countries.

Join us to celebrate the contributions of Hispanic Americans to American history, through books and programs for all ages.

Book Lists

Latinx Romance

Hispanic Heritage Month 2021

Translated Books from Latin and South America

Latinx-American Authors

Latinx-American Authors: eBooks and eAudio

More Book Lists

Featured Events

Remembering September 11 with Photos of First Responders

The Center for Local History has recently digitized many additional photographs from the Community Archives taken at the Pentagon at the time of September 11, 2001, by Mike Defina, a fire captain with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Fire and Rescue Department.

National Airport personnel deployed to the Pentagon Sept. 12, 2001. L to R: CCT Mike Fetsko, Deputy Fire Marshal David Norris, Captain John Durrer, Paramedic Captain David Testa, Captain Mike Defino, Tech. Ralph Cornell, Paramedic Mike Murphy, Tech. Troy Hutchinson, Tech. Paul Purcell, Firefighter. Photo: Mike Defina. 

These images are just a few of the Community Archives collection Records Related to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the Pentagon, which is made up of textual materials, photographs, some memorabilia, and audio-visual materials. The bulk of the collection dates from 2001-2002 and features photographs of the aftermath and days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. (Note: some of these photos may contain sensitive or disturbing material).

That morning a westbound plane took off from Dulles airport, was hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the Pentagon. One hundred and eighty-nine people died in the crash, including the 64 passengers on Flight 77. On the same morning two more hijacked planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City, and a fourth hijacked plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people died in the tragedy, changing both the country and Arlington forever.

Firefighters and first responders from Arlington County, Fort Myer, and Reagan National Airport were essential in coordinating the Pentagon rescue and response, arriving within minutes of the plane crash.

Arlington County Fire Department took the lead, establishing an Incident Command System across the region to respond to the emergency. Firefighters were able to get the fire under control on the first day, but it took three days to fully extinguish.

Fire fighters taking a much-needed break at the National Airport fire station at 10 p.m. on September 11, after a daylong rescue effort at the Pentagon. Photo credit: Mike Defina. 

The images in this collection depict both the horrific nature of the crash and Pentagon fires, the resilience and bravery of the first responders, and many spontaneous memorial events.

Firefighters display a large American flag on the front of the National Airport fire station, two days after the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Photo: Mike Defina. 

The two foam units, along with their crews, that were on the original call to the Pentagon on September 11, parked in front of the American flag displayed on the front of the National Airport fire station. Photo: Mike Defina. 

A memorial of flags, flowers, and signs near the Pentagon following the September 11 terrorist attack. Photo: Mike Defina. 

View All Images

Additional physical materials in the collection are held in the Arlington Community Archives for research use, including many thank-you cards written by school children to the firefighters of the Arlington Fire Department, County Manager Ron Carlee's papers used during the response, after-action reports, ephemera from memorial services, and VHS tape recordings of memorial events.

While these additional items have yet to be digitized, those who wish to research them may use the online finding aid to determine which boxes or folders would be useful and/or contact the Center for Local History to make a research consultation appointment.

Oral histories from the five-year anniversary of September 11, 2001 are also available online in the Center for Local History's digitized Community Archive.

Arlington County Fire Department members pose with children in front of a mural created to thank them for their service. Photo: Mike Defina. 

Do you have Arlington materials related to the events September 11, 2001 that you would like to donate? 

The Center for Local History (CLH) collects, preserves, and shares historical documents that tell the history of Arlington County, its citizens, organizations, businesses, and social issues. Learn about how you can help to build Arlington's community history on the CLH Donation webpage.

2021 Summer Readers Raise $4,525 for AFAC

Thank You to Everyone who Participated in Summer Reading!

Librarians and AFAC staff

The Friends of the Arlington Public Library will contribute $1 to the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) on behalf of each of the 4,525 people who completed this year's Summer Reading challenge:

  • 421 readers under age 5
  • 1,325 elementary school age readers
  • 527 teen readers
  • 2,222 adult readers
Learn More About AFAC

Summer Reading 2021 was made possible through the generosity of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library and the Washington Nationals.

JobNow: Online Job Search and Career Help

Live Online Help, 2-11 p.m., Seven Days a Week

JobNow can help you:

  • Explore new career paths using a live career coach, career assessment tools and eParachute (inspired by the bestselling books).
  • Prepare for important career advancement tests including nursing exams, ASVAB and PRAXIS.
  • Build and improve your resume with fully editable templates, live assistance and resume review from experts with 24-hour turnaround.
  • Prepare for your job interview with interview tips and a live job coach.

To get started, login using your library card number, then create a free Brainfuse account!

Log into JobNow from Brainfuse

Oral History: Buckingham Florist

Interview with Neil Bassin

pink sound wave on a grey background

Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

Arlington has a lengthy history of legacy floral shops, and among those was Buckingham Florist, a mainstay of the Buckingham neighborhood for almost 80 years.

Buckingham Florist was founded by Myer and Jean Bassin in Arlington in 1942, and the couple later opened a second location in Coral Hills, Maryland. The business did floral arrangements for a variety of events and venues, with the nearby Arlington National Cemetery among their primary sites of business.

At one point, Buckingham Florist was the primary supplier of flowers for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The shop’s federal connections didn’t stop there, however: one of the shop’s floral designers, Elmer “Rusty” Young, went on to serve as a florist in the White House in the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. Young was appointed the first White House Chief Floral Designer by Jacqueline Kennedy, and continued in that position throughout the rest of his career.

Buckingham Florist, right, in 1996.

The shop moved to its long-term location at 301 North Glebe Road in the bustling Buckingham Shopping Center in the mid-1950s, having previously been located on the south side of Glebe. Myer and Jean Bassin’s son Neil Bassin ran Buckingham Florist throughout the latter half of the 20th century. He sold the shop in the mid-2000s, and the Buckingham storefront closed permanently in 2017.

In this oral history interview, Neil Bassin (1932-2019) discusses the legacy of the business and how the shop supplied its flowers. The interview in full goes on to discuss other topics, such as changes in the floral industry and the business environment of Buckingham throughout the 20th century.

Narrator: Neil Bassin
Interviewer: Virginia Smith
Date: May 14, 2012

Photos of the Bassin family from the February 8, 1965, issue of the Northern Virginia Sun. Image courtesy of Virginia Chronicle.

Neil Bassin: In most aspects of the florist business, we were very successful because of the location we were in. People knew us. And that’s, I would say, the major factor in why our business was so successful, until the people met me or my mother, or you know. And just personal business, where the people knew us. I mean, we had people when they were born. We had them when they were married, and we had them when they died because the business is over sixty years.

Virginia Smith: That’s a nice legacy, isn’t it? Sixty years of business.

NB: Yeah, it’s a long time.

VS: Tell me who your suppliers were of flowers.

NB: Well, lots. Mostly, downtown florists, wholesalers. And when I first got in, it was downtown wholesalers. They were all—

VS: Is that the name of it? Downtown—?

NB: No.

VS: Oh, multiple—?

NB: They were mostly around one block downtown.

VS: Where was that block?

NB: It was between Fourteenth and Thirteenth on the street before K Street. K Street was a park in those days.

VS: Yes.

NB: Like a little park. And then down Fourteenth Street, on the right was Schaffer’s Retail Florist.

VS: Okay, but Shaffer was a wholesaler also—

NB: Then, Shaffer was a wholesaler. McCallum Sauber was a wholesaler, and they were really instrumental in helping us get in business because my uncle sort of knew the owners. And they did help us. My uncle was very artistic, and he was a big help in getting us into the business. But, there were Paul’s Wholesale Florist and Goody Brothers.

VS: Oh, I know that name.

NB: And around the corner was District Wholesale, and Flowers Incorporated, which was also a wholesale florist. And so they were all in one area until they sold that block and razed that block, where they all moved out and spread out.

Advertisement for Buckingham Florist in the Washington, D.C., Yellow Pages in 1960. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Elmer “Rusty” Young, Chief Floral Designer at the White House, prepares an arrangement in the Floral Room, August 28, 1963. Young was previously a floral designer at Buckingham Florist. Image courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library of Museum.

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.

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.

Message from the Library Director on Masks and Social Distancing

Effective Wednesday, Aug. 18, all individuals, age two and older, who enter Arlington Public Library buildings will be required to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status.

We are taking this action to protect our community’s health and well-being due to the recent spike in cases of COVID-19 in our area. We also ask that you continue to maintain 6 feet of distance between yourself and people who don’t live in your household. These steps are consistent with actions being taken in Loudoun County, Fairfax and Alexandria library systems.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), and the Arlington County Public Health Division, COVID-19 continues to pose a risk, especially to individuals who are not fully vaccinated.

As always, thank you for your patience and cooperation as we strive to provide safe library services in this difficult time.

Diane

Scrawled signature of Diane Kresh

Diane Kresh
Director
Arlington Public Library

Free Walk In COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic for Individuals 12 and Up

New Dates: Monday, Aug. 16 - Saturday, Aug. 21

Arlington County’s Public Health Division is offering free walk-in COVID-19 vaccines to individuals 12 and up at Columbia Pike, Shirlington, and Westover Libraries.

The vaccines are free, safe, and offer the best protection from COVID-19. Get the facts and then get yourself and your child vaccinated.

Bring any form of identification - examples include a utility bill, paystub, insurance card, or a driver’s license.

Please note: Children 17 years and younger must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian to receive their vaccine.

The vaccine provided may be Moderna, Pfizer, or Johnson & Johnson. Moderna and Pfizer recipients will receive instructions on-site about how to obtain their second dose. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a single shot and does not require a second dose.

View Vaccine Clinic Calendar

August Dates and Times

Monday, Aug. 16, Aug. 23, Aug. 30

  • 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. - Westover

Tuesday, Aug.17,  Aug. 24, Aug. 31

  • 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. - Columbia Pike

Saturday, Aug. 21, Aug. 28

  • 1 – 4 p.m. – Shirlington

For questions or scheduling assistance, please call the County’s COVID-19 hotline at 703-228-7999 Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm. For additional assistance, call 1-877-VAX-IN-VA (877-829-4682).

Washington Golf and Country Club

The Washington Golf and Country Club is considered the oldest golf club in Virginia, and its course now comprises 88 acres of land just off of Glebe Road in North Arlington.

The Washington Golf and Country Club, taken in the late 1930s. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The club was incorporated in 1894 by members of the Metropolitan Club, though evidence exists that it was first organized in 1892. The Club was a social and literary group founded by employees of the Treasury Department and whose members were of the elite echelons of Washington society, including Senators, ambassadors, and other men in high government positions.

This was around the time when golf was becoming a major recreational craze. The 9-hole golf course was built on a 165-acre tract leased from the Hoover family, just north of Rosslyn. The Hoover family home became the de facto clubhouse for the golfers. It was noted that a man named Jackson also lived and worked on the property that became the golf course. Jackson had been enslaved by the Hoover family and later became their servant and then a servant at the golf club.

The Washington Golf Club in the 1920s at the Rixey property.

The golf club adhered to a strict set of rules, including regulation dress and a ban on gambling on the premises. An annual fee was between $15-$20, and by 1897 there were nearly 200 members. About 30 women had joined the club by 1898, though they would play on “ladies’ links.”

The club was disbanded in 1907 when the property owners decided to develop the land, and the following year it was incorporated under a new name, the Washington Country Club. Between 1908 and 1920 the club and a now-18-hole course were located at the property of Admiral Rixey, the then-United States Surgeon General.

This property also included tennis courts. Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft were honorary members, and Woodrow Wilson was also an active member, leading it to be known as the “Playground of Presidents.”

A man identified as A.W. Howard plays at the Washington Golf Club, circa 1925. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In 1915 the club’s name was changed to its current iteration as the Washington Golf and Country Club. In 1936 a fire destroyed the clubhouse and the club’s records, though it was rebuilt on the same foundations by 1937. In 1958, another new clubhouse was built, and the current clubhouse was completed in 2006.

Want to learn more about golf history in the region? Check out Golf and Civil Rights in Washington, DC.

To learn more about Arlington's history, visit the Center for Local History on the first floor of the Central Library.

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Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.

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