Between Justice and Beauty: Race, Planning, and the Failure of Urban Policy in Washington, D.C.

Note on Sources

Note on Sources Archival Sources, Documentary Collections, and Newspapers Unlike most cities, Washington lacks a central historical archive, the product of its specialrelationship with the federalgovernment. The District of Columbia Archives did not receive its first records until 1990. While it contains some potentially valuablerecord groups for tracing urban development , such as the Engineer Department files covering the years1898to 1950, and some government record groups covering portions of the work of the National Capital Housing Authority and the Redevelopment Land Agency limited funding and staff have prevented the archives from becoming the central resource it was intended to be for the record of the city's modern history More central to that and the city's early history is the National Archives , which, despite lacking specialized attention to Washington records, contains the most complete documentation of Washington's history Particularly important are the record groups for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives(46 and 233),the District of Columbia government (351), the National Capital Planning Commission (328),the National Capital Housing Authority (302),the Commission of Fine Arts (66),and the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds (42). Each of these record groups has a published finding aid, with the congressionalrecords being treated most extensivelyin Robert W. Coren et a]., Guide to theRecords of the United States Senate at the National Archives, and Charles E. Schamel et al., Guide to the Records of the United States House of Representatives at the National Archives, both published by the National Archives and RecordsAdministration, in 1989. The Library of Congress holds the personal papers of several key figures in Washington history, most notably two contributors to the Senate Park Commission, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Charles Moore. The library's holdings for Alexander Shepherd and Sayles Bowen are not nearly so complete, and I had to rely on other sources, most notably news accounts , to document their roles in shaping the city Past historical work on Pierre L'Enfant has drawn on those of his papers in the library's collections that have survived. But they are notoriously incomplete, and it is widely believed that some of the most important documents recording his effort to design the District of Columbia are in private hands. GeorgeWashington University's Gelman Library Office of SpecialCollections contains a few especiallyvaluable manuscript collections for modern Washington. In addition to the Walter Fauntroy Collection, which is not yet open for public use, it holds an invaluable group of transportationrelated documents compiled by Peter Craig. Darwin Stolzenbach's initial collection of documents recording the origins of the Metro subway system is also valuable. The Greater Washington Board of Trade Collection consists mostly of public reports, but the library lacks a run of the Washington Board ofTradeNews, a useful record ofboard policy,which can be found at the Historical Societyof Washington and the D.C. Public Library JessicaI. Elfenbein, Civics, Comn~erce, and Community: The History of the Greater Board of Trade, 1889-1989 (Dubuque, Iowa: KendallIHunt Publishing Co., 1989)builds on those records. The Catholic University Archives holds some of the records of the Associated Charities. The Historical Society of Washington collections are stronger for maps and photographs than manuscripts. The society holds, nonetheless, some papers pertinent to Washington's urban development, notably those of U. S. Grant 111and John Nolen, planning directors for the National Capital Park and Planning Commission; Harry MTender,Southwest civic activist; and Charles Glover, parks enthusiast and banker. The D.C. Public Library is known especially for its extensive local history subject files as well as its photographic and print files from the Washington Star. More recently the library has sought out manuscript collections; among the promising records for future research are those of Julius Hobson Sr., social activist and civil rights leader whose leadership role in Washington corresponded with Marion Barry's earlyyears in the city Each of the major Washington collections is described in some detail in Perry G. Fisher and Linda J. Lear, A Selected Bibliographyfor IVashington Studies and Descriptions ofnilajor Local Collections (Washington, D.C.: GMrWashington Studies no. 8,1981).Also helpful as a guide is Kathleen Collins, WashingtoniansPhotographs: Collections in the Prints and Photographs Divisiot~ojthe Library of Congress(Washington , D.C.: Library of Congress, 1989). A particularly valuable source for the history of urban renewal in Washington has been the collection of the Department of Housingand Community Development, which contained extensive clipping files aswell as many project reports relating to redevelopment. That collection has since been dispersed...