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Introducing the Center for Local History at Arlington Public Library

We’re Saying goodbye to the name “Virginia Room”…

This year has brought big changes to Central Library, with building-wide renovation and redesign.

CLHbannerSmall

The Local History Team has used these renovations as an opportunity to re-evaluate how we present our mission and projects to the public. After much consideration, as of our reopening this week, the “Virginia Room” name is being retired.

We are now the Center for Local History at Arlington Public Library.

 

What’s in a name?

Simply put, the name “Virginia Room” was insufficient to convey the scope of the work that we do and the resources we offer.

Our mission has not changed: we are still dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing the history of our community.

Our rich historical collections and range of projects offer the Arlington community the ability to not only learn about and research their history, but also contribute to its telling. We are, and have always been, much more than just a room; now our name will reflect this.

By changing our name to the Center for Local History we hope to provide a better explanation of who we are: our many projects and the mission that links them.

 

What is it you do, anyway?

The Center for Local History has three primary components:

  • The Virginiana Collection, located in our research room, is a special collection of library holdings including books, newsletters, maps, oral histories, and other materials pertaining to the history of the Arlington area specifically and Virginia more generally. These materials are not available to be checked out, but can be used by researchers during our research room hours.
  • The Arlington Community Archives, which collects and preserves documents about the history of Arlington County, its citizens, and organizations. The collection focuses on personal papers, photographs, and archival records of local organizations, clubs, and associations. Most of these holdings are kept off-site at our archives, but can be requested by researchers for perusal in our research room.
  • Finally, our Digital Initiatives include efforts to improve access to our holdings by digitizing them and making them accessible to the community online. This includes the digitization of holdings, the creation of online exhibits, and the preservation of born-digital holdings in the archives.

Later this summer, we will add another element to our Digital Initiatives program, as the Library’s Digital Projects Lab will become part of the Center for Local History.

The Digital Projects Lab will provide a variety of software and hardware to allow anyone to come in and share their own pieces of Arlington history, through scanning family photographs or recording oral histories, along with providing a space and resources to create digital projects.

The Center for Local History at the Arlington Public Library is located on the first floor of Central Library. We hope you will come and visit us, explore our collections and follow all the exciting new projects coming up this year and beyond.

unboxed

This blog post represents the first in our new series, Unboxed, where we will give a behind-the-scenes view of new and interesting Center for Local History projects. 

We have a lot of exciting projects in the pipeline, and this blog series will be a place where we can let you behind the scenes, show you what we’ve got in the works, and what we’re working on. Hope you follow along and enjoy it!

 

 

The Center for Local History at the Arlington Public Library

Website: library.arlingtonva.us/localhistory

Phone: 703-228-5966

Email: localhistory@arlingtonva.us

Research Room
1015 N. Quincy Street
Arlington, Virginia 22201

Sunday: Closed
Monday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m
Tuesday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Wednesday: 1 p.m. – 9 p.m
Thursday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m
Friday: Closed
Saturday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

 

Director's Blog: November's Happy Ending

It’s been quite an autumn in Arlington.

First came Hurricane Sandy, which thankfully caused little of the heart-breaking destruction seen to the north. Still, Sandy forced this region into shutdown mode and that included two days without services like the Library.

Then there was the big election, which just missed a record turnout but still found Arlingtonians waiting hours in some long, cold lines outside Central Library and other polling sites.

Just days ago we were dealing with the almost-meltdown of the shared Public Library and Public Schools catalog and accounts system.  If you’ve ever lost your wallet, it was a similar feeling of dread. And then if you’ve ever had a lost wallet returned pretty much intact, it was a similar feeling of elation.

Board Chair Mary Hughes Hynes, left, with Diane Kresh.

And now bolstering a happy ending to November: the Library just won a pair of Arlington’s Best Business Awards–one for “Best Family Friendly Spot” and the other for “Best Customer Service.”

Thank you– for all the continued support, patience and best wishes we have received in the past weeks. If the Library could give out its own award, it would be a big collective one for “Best Customers.” 

So, with the equivalent of a thousand words, Arlington Public Library presents to you, below, its enduring appreciation. You’re the best.

                                                                                                          Photo by Diane Kresh

Director's Blog

Answers to (Almost) Anything

Meet the Public (through the Press)

I had the pleasure of taking part last week in a new feature at the ArlNow.com local news site.

The “Ask Me (Almost) Anything” feature invited readers to post questions about Arlington Public Library and I spent about two hours answering in real time. It was great fun to tackle such a wide range of topics.

If you missed the chat, thanks for taking a look now.

And of course if you have any questions for the Library, the best place to start is our Help page.

From Marching Bands to Indie Rock: The Story of Gerald Lewis Recording

1979 Arlington County All-County Elementary Orchestra and Chorus album cover

In today’s music scene, it isn’t uncommon for those involved to wear many hats.

Artists crossover from performing to producing, find parallel careers in film, literature, and the visual arts with regularity. In earlier times, this phenomenon was less prevalent, excepting well-known performers such as Elvis and Frank Sinatra. Arlington’s own Gerald M. Lewis had a rich and varied career, being involved in many different aspects of music including performing, instruction, production, and recording.

From 1954-1979, Mr. Lewis served as a band director for Gunston and Stratford Junior High Schools, and Wakefield and Washington-Lee High Schools. At his home on 216 S. Pershing Drive, Lewis also owned and operated Gerald Lewis Recording. Housed in a mobile home adjacent to his residence, Gerald Lewis Recording was a mobile recording unit that offered him the ability to record performers and public events on location.

Operating from 1964-1991, a remarkably diverse customer base utilized Mr. Lewis’ recording service. Local Virginia and Maryland schools and churches recorded public events and concerts, including performances from high school marching bands and public speakers.

Local recording artists also took advantage of Lewis’ expertise. In 1985, Teen-Beat Records artists Unrest used the mobile studio to master their debut 7” single “So You Want To Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”/ “Zelda” (Side A) – “The Hill” (Side B), which was also the first Teen-Beat vinyl release. Unrest band member and Teen-Beat impresario Mark Robinson recalls, “He [Lewis] essentially was the broker for Teen-Beat to press our first record. He put the master tape together, sent it to the pressing plant, etc. I paid him, and he paid the pressing plant. I found his number in the Yellow Pages. He also recorded and pressed up the Arlington All-County Orchestra record that I was on back in 4th or 5th grade, so I knew that this guy knew how to make a record.”

In 1996, Mr. Lewis and his wife Elizabeth, a music teacher at Wakefield High School, moved to Tennessee where he continued to be involved in music, directing, arranging, and playing trombone for the Pleasant Hill Ensemble until his passing in March of 2008, at the age of 82.

What about you?

Do you have any memories of Mr. Lewis or his recording services?

How to Preserve Arlington’s Past

The Virginia Room at Central Library is the County’s official history archive.

But how does the Library keep a steady flow of history coming in? Donations, from people like you.

Scott McCaffrey of the Sun Gazette was on hand for a recent donation by the Potomac Women’s Club, just one of several civic groups that now has its newsletters, yearbooks and scrapbooks preserved for future generations of Arlington residents and researchers.

In the case of the Potomac Women’s Club, the records go back to the early 1950s and create a fascinating timeline of both dramatic changes in the County and the evolving influence of women’s organizations nationwide.

See more images from the Potomac Women’s Club donation.

 

Learn more about the Virginia Room and local history. 

 

Our Back Pages: Swillers Music

Serving as both a location to find the latest recorded music and a popular gathering spot, Swillers Music is still fondly remembered by longtime Arlington residents. 

Known over the years as Swillers Music, Swillers Music Center, or just Swillers, the store’s location in Clarendon at 1206 N. Hartford St. helped it become a magnet for residents looking for phonograph records of all genres. Turntables, televisions, radios, and related accessories were also kept in stock for the customer’s convenience.

Priding themselves on adding new merchandise on a near daily basis, many local residents found themselves visiting Swillers regularly, enjoying each other’s company, making new friends, or just passing the time. All of this seems quite fitting for a family owned business overseen by president Milton Swiller, vice president Anna Swiller, and treasurer Sydney Swiller.

The first listing for Swillers in an Arlington County directory appeared in 1948, while the last entry is from 1961.

 What About You?

 Do you have any recollections about Swillers Music?  If you do, please share in our comments section. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

Our Back Pages: Shreve’s in Cherrydale

Shreve’s Store on Lee Highway in Cherrydale was the second general store in Cherrydale, the first being Nelson’s. In addition to being a store it was also, for a time, the Cherrydale Post Office.

Double track trolley lines in front of the store ran to Great Falls in one direction and Rosslyn in the other. The tracks, which followed what is now Old Dominion Drive, were removed in 1935.

According to an article in the Sun newspaper, there was a water trough for horses in front of the store, which was filled from a nearby pump. When the pump was eventually electrified, the horses were so scared by the new device they wouldn’t drink!

As Lee Highway was not paved in the early years, the Shreve family often hitched their own road grader to their horse to smooth out the street.

The photograph above was taken circa 1910.

What About You?

What do you remember or have heard about Shreve’s or other stores in Cherrydale? We want to know!

Eternal Truths

Artist: Lisa Fedon

Installed: 1999 – 2000
Materials: Bronze plate, perforated plate, and rod anchored into a brick wall, finished with tortoise-shell patina

EternalTruthsfedon

On permanent display at Central Library.

The sculpture was fabricated of bronze (plate, perforated plate, and rod). The finish is dark tortoise shell patina. All of the work was completed at Ms. Fedon’s studio in Pennsylvania and then transported to Arlington. The sections are anchored into the brick walls.

The artist, Lisa Fedon of Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, was chosen through a competitive process by a jury of community representatives, local artists, and staff from the Library and the Public Art section of the Arlington County Cultural Affairs Division.

In her design, Ms. Fedon combined images taken by local high school photography students with her own photographic record of “life in Arlington.” The sculpture is funded by monies raised raised in the Campaign for Excellence, by the Friends of the Arlington Public Library, and by other contributions.

Learn more about this piece from Arlington Public Art.

Triumph of Literature

Artist: Alfred Ratinoff

Installed: 2000
Materials: Ceramic Tile

Created with ArtsWork students Jerryl Chandler, Brenda Keating, Julia Siple, Donna Xizo, Jerome Young and Jeannette Yue.

Triumph of Literature columbia pike

Permanently installed at the Columbia Pike Branch Library.

ArtsWork was a summer program for teens coordinated by Arlington Cultural Affairs from 2000 – 2003.

 

Howard Larson, Librarian and Volunteer (1930-2011)

Howard
Howard Larson, 2010

Howard Larson, retired Library staff member turned Library volunteer, died this fall, at the age of 81. 

Charles Howard Larson grew up in rural northeastern Indiana, attended the University of Indiana and served in the Army during the Korean War. After being discharged from the Army, Howard and his wife Nancy moved to Washington D.C., and then to Arlington, where they raised daughters Martha and Barbara. Howard worked several jobs before settling in at the District of Columbia Central Personnel Office, from which he retired.

Howard Larson, retired Library staff member turned Library volunteer, died this fall, at the age of 81. 

Charles Howard Larson grew up in rural northeastern Indiana, attended the University of Indiana and served in the Army during the Korean War. After being discharged from the Army, Howard and his wife Nancy moved to Washington D.C., and then to Arlington, where they raised daughters Martha and Barbara. Howard worked several jobs before settling in at the District of Columbia Central Personnel Office, from which he retired.

It was then that he started his second career, as a member of the staff at the Aurora Hills Branch Library. After almost 20 years with the Library, Howard retired - but instead of leaving the Library behind, he became a volunteer.

Four days a week, Howard came in at 9:30 a.m. to process the router - the list of holds, or items that need to be pulled from the shelves and sent to another library for customer pick up. During tax season, Howard was also in charge of ordering and coordinating all of the paper tax forms. His careful attention to everything he did, combined with long personal relationships with many Aurora Hills patrons, made Howard a well loved and valuable part of the Library's team.

Howard was also a member of Western Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C., where his dedication to good food and drink led to their upstairs kitchen being named after him, and where it was a point of pride for him to shovel their sidewalks after the unprecedented snowstorms of 2009 and 2010.

The staff at Aurora Hills remember Howard similarly for his love of good coffee, and miss sharing it with him four mornings a week.



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