Use Restrictions

The copyright and related rights status of this collection have not been evaluated (See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/)

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Richard M. Sparks George Mason College photograph collection, C0521, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Donated to SCRC in 2005 through Bob Vay.

Processing Information

Processing and finding aid completed by Meghan Glasbrenner from July - August 2024.

Biographical and Historical Information

Originally established as a Northern Virginia branch of the University of Virginia, the University College of the University of Virginia formally opened as a 2-year associates degree granting school on September 24, 1957 in the former Bailey's Elementary School on Columbia Pike in Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia. The eight-room red-brick schoolhouse, originally built in 1922, had 8 classrooms, with no designated gathering place for students aside from the main hallway, front porch, and parking lot. To help provide a place for students to gather, the nearby Bailey's Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department offered the use of its upstairs bingo hall as a student lounge during the day. Additionally, the building's small rooms required college events, such as assemblies, meetings, and celebrations, to also be held at nearby locations, such as the Alexandria Episcopal Seminary. On January 1, 1960 the name was changed to George Mason College (GMC) following a tiebreaking vote by the University's Board of Visitors.

The Bailey's Crossroads campus (also known as BXU) remained in service until August 1964 when GMC moved to its permanent location south of the City of Fairfax. The new Fairfax campus officially opened on September 14, 1964 with 356 registered students, a 58% increase from the final school year at Bailey's Crossroads, and four buildings, each named for the direction it faced (North, South, East, and West). More information about the history of these early GMC locations can be found at this link: The Mason Experience: Past and Present .

Richard M. Sparks entered GMC as a student at the Bailey's Crossroads campus in September 1961. After completing his two-year program, Sparks remained at GMC part-time the following year working as a lab assistant while also attending American University in Washington, D.C. It was during this year that Sparks met his future wife Ann Walker. When GMC moved to its new, permanent Fairfax campus in August 1964 Sparks continued his work with the school in the Biology Department as an instructor until 1968. He received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University in 1967 and returned to GMC in 1970 to complete his Master of Science degree in Biology, which he received in 1973, one year after the school separated from the University of Virginia and was renamed George Mason University.

Scope and Content

Digitized and printed photographs taken by Richard M. Sparks of George Mason College student life at Bailey's Crossroads in the early 1960s. Photographs document classes, faculty, students, and college events and celebrations primarily at Bailey's Crossroads, but also during the first few years at the permanent campus in Fairfax. Photographs are primarily described individually, although some have been grouped if multiple photographs cover the same event. Folder titles have either being taken directly from inscriptions provided, indicated by the use of quotation marks, or created to describe the content of the images. Full inscription information, which includes identified individuals depicted, and identification of the digital file name is provided at the folder level where applicable. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are attributed to Richard M. Sparks.

Arrangement

The collection is in original order, grouped by photographic medium.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center holds other photograph collections documenting the history of George Mason College, including the Doug Nelms photographs and the Charles Baptie photograph collection .

The University Archives also holds the George Mason University Oral History Program collection .

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Arundel, Arthur M.
• Bailey's Crossroads (Va.)
• College students
• Education, Higher
• Education, Higher -- Virginia
• George Mason College
• George Mason University
• George Mason University -- Photographs
• George Mason University -- Student Life
• Nelms, Douglas W.
• Nineteen sixties
• Photographs
• Potter, Lee H., -2014
• Students
• Students -- Photographs