Reston, Virginia celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in April 2014, and SC&A has created a new digital exhibition on Reston’s history. Named Reston@50, the Omeka-based exhibition contains eight themed exhibits and more than one hundred exhibit items from the University Libraries’ collections pertaining to Reston. The exhibition is part of a grant project funded by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
The University Libraries’ relationship with the founders of Reston began nearly thirty years ago with the deposit of the Planned Community Archives collection (PCA) at SC&A in 1987. The collection contains archival materials gathered and preserved by people and organizations associated with the history and development of Reston. Other planned communities, such as Columbia and Greenbelt, Maryland, and those that were part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s New Communities Program, are also represented in PCA. PCA is just one of several collections pertaining to Reston that are featured in Reston@50. The University Libraries have maintained a close working relationship with founding members of Reston, the Reston Museum and Historic Trust, and other supporters of Reston over the past three decades during which the collections were acquired.
Plot plan, Lake Anne Village Reston, Fairfax County Virginia. Plat showing layout of housing clusters, single family homes, model homes, schools, churches, and roads in Lake Anne Village. Robert E. Simon, Jr. Papers #C0162 Box 3, Folder 8. Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University Libraries.
Items shown in Reston@50, along with exhibit text, help illustrate certain themes in the history and development of the new town, namely: Reston’s beginnings; planning, designing, and marketing; villages, village centers, green spaces, and schools; business and government; recreation, arts, and culture; Gulf and Mobil; transportation; and community-mindedness. These items were selected and digitized by SC&A staff.
Along with Reston@50, and as part of the VFH grant project, the University Libraries, in conjunction with the Reston Museum and Historic Trust, sponsored a symposium on April 26, 2014 at the Reston Community Center in Reston. The event, Reston at 50: Looking Back at Forward Thinking, featured lectures pertaining to aspects of Reston architecture, diversity in Reston, the Planned Community Archives collection, and other scholarship on Reston by George Mason University faculty and students.
Reston@50 can be accessed at: reston50.gmu.edu.
