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Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History
Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History© 2018 Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History
Heather Crocetto
The collection is open for research.
There are no restrictions.
Personal Papers of Nan Netherton, Collection # RG 76, Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History
Gift of Nan Netherton in August 1998.
Anne "Nan" Netherton (1926-2003) was a prominent historian and researcher of both Arlington County and all of Northern Virginia. Netherton and her husband Ross co-wrote a book on Arlington County titled Arlington County in Virginia: A Pictorial History in 1987. Born in Illinois, Netherton moved to Northern Virginia in 1950 after working on the Manhattan Project during World War II and found that the area, while in a period of transition from rural to suburban, was historically interesting and important. She worked for Fairfax County as a staff member for the Office of Comprehensive Planning and compiled an 800-page history of the county for the U.S. Bicentennial celebrations in 1976. The Nethertons published many works on the history and development of Northern Virginia, especially in Fairfax County, where they resided, including Memories of Beautiful Burke, Virginia (1988), Fairfax County, Virginia: A History (1978), and Reston: A New Town in the Old Dominion (1989). Additionally, Nan volunteered for the Fairfax Historic Landmarks Commission, was elected president of the Northern Virginia Association for History in 1988, and received the Association's Joseph Harsh Award for her work in historic preservation of local history in 2000.
The personal papers in this collection were generated by Nan Netherton. The collection is approximately 4.5 linear feet and dates from 1946 to 2000 with the bulk of dates ranging from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. Much of the material in this collection is generated from her research on Theodore Roosevelt Island and economic, residential, and physical development of Arlington. Many materials in this collection are photocopies of articles and primary sources on her research subjects. There are scattered photographs, both copies of originals in other repositories and uncredited photographs.
This collection is arranged into two series. Series 1 is research from Netherton's book on Theodore Roosevelt Island. Any folders in this series in quotes ("") are original folder titles created by Netherton. In this series, portions of folder titles in brackets ([]) have been added by the archivist for clarification. Series 2 contains historical notes and research conducted by Netherton; Series 3 contains news clippings and other information about economic and residential development in Arlington County. The archivist has created the folder titles for these two series. Folders containing photographs have an asterisk [*] after the file name. Folders with oversized materials have a double asterisk [**] to denote where material was removed and separation sheets added.
The records of other Arlington historical researchers and authors can be found in RG 23, the Personal Papers of Eleanor Templeman , RG 91, Papers of Dorothea Abbott , RG 103, Freeman's Village and Reconstruction Collection , and RG 354, Papers of C. B. Rose .