Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Personal Papers of Beulah Shipley Goss, Collection # RG 27, Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History

Acquisition Information

This group of materials was culled from a larger group in unaccessioned storage boxes.

Biographical Information

Beulah Shipley Goss (1898-1974) was an Arlington real estate agent, owner of Beulah Goss Real Estate. Ms. Goss was involved with several local community organizations, including the Arlington Business and Professional Women's Club and the Women's Democratic Club. She was also active in other groups, particularly the Organized Women Voters and the Salvation Army. Beulah Goss served as Arlington County's "Price Clerk" for the U.S. Office of Price Administration from 1943 through 1945. After the war, she was instrumental in helping to form the Arlington County War Memorial Association for the purpose of gaining community support for the construction of a war memorial and local recreation and arts center.

Scope and Content

RG 27 contains materials collected by Beulah Shipley Goss and dates from 1932 through 1972, although the bulk of the papers fall between 1942 and 1959. The collection measures approximately .8 linear feet. This collection reflects Goss's volunteer activities with various organizations and contains correspondence, publications, clippings, photographs, and administrative records for those groups.

Series 1, Arlington County War Price Rationing Board , focuses on Goss's work with local rationing plans during World War II and includes samples of ration coupons and testimonies of local merchants protesting the rationing system. Series 2, Arlington County War Memorial Association , contains administrative records and plans for the proposed memorial and recreation center. Series 3, Arlington Business and Professional Women's Club , contains several scripts for radio skits which were produced during 1948 and focus on the issue of women in the labor force. Series 6, Photographs , showcase Goss at various war-related and charitable events. Series 5, Salvation Army , has an intact manual for "Advisory Organizations" that has its own cover and binder, and has been housed separately.

Arrangement

RG 27 is arranged into eight subgroups based on Goss' activities or club memberships. Within each subgroup, a number of record series have been established according to type of material. Folders with artifacts have a double asterisk [**] to denote where material was removed and separation sheets added.

Related Material

More material on the Arlington County Women's Democratic Club be found in RG 171 , which houses their records. There is a scrapbook for the Arlington County Business and Professional Women's Club in RG 107, Scrapbooks . Two other collections that document Arlington's local response to World War II are RG 90, Records of Company No. 7: Virginia Reserve Militia , and RG 135, Arlington Air Raid Warden Service .

Index Terms

Subjects:

• Arlington (Va.)
• Arlington County (Va.)
• United States. War Price & Rationing Board
• War memorials -- Virginia -- Arlington County.
• World War II

Adjunct Descriptive Data