Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Use Restrictions

Visual materials may require special handling.

Preferred Citation

Winslow Williams Photograph Collection (VC 0003), 1925-1980, Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Winslow Williams, Leesburg, Virginia

Alternative Form Available

Electronic media for some items

Accruals

1991.0005, 2003.0023, 2005.0109, 2005.0183

Processing Information

Beth Schuster, 29 December 2010

Biographical Information

Mr. Williams was born in New York in 1913, the son of a prominent lawyer. As a toddler, his family moved to Loudoun County. He learned photography from his stepmother as a child, and worked as a photographer for the Navy during World War II. After the War, he ran a photography studio in Leesburg that closed in the early 1950s. Two years before his death in 1993, he donated his collection of negatives and prints to Thomas Balch Library in Leesburg, Virginia. Mr. Williams was also the owner of the Winslow Williams Real Estate company and a founding member of the Loudoun County Board of Realtors. He was an enthusiastic naturalist who enjoyed fishing, ornithology, and gardening; for many years; his garden extended from his back yard into the rear of Thomas Balch Library.

Scope and Content

The Winslow Williams Photograph Collection consists of approximately 12,000 negatives and 1000 prints taken by Winslow Williams over the course of his life. Images are individually catalogued in PastPerfect, Thomas Balch Library's visual collections database available onsite, and may be identified in the online index available at www.leesburgva.gov/ThomasBalchLibrary/SpecialCollections by searching vc_0003.

The Collection's extensiveness, both chronologically and geographically, provides excellent documentation of daily life in Loudoun County during a key period of the county's expansion. Most of the photographs in the collection are the work product of Mr. Williams' professional photography studio and document varied facets of County life during the mid-twentieth century. Agricultural activities, sports, community, and social events are well represented. Additionally, there are many photographs of members of Loudoun County's African-American community, including the Loudoun County Emancipation Association, Douglass High School in Leesburg and Carver Elementary School in Purcellville. The collection is also very important for genealogical research; many of Williams' professional photographs are studio portraits of students and families.

Arrangement

Box

Related Material

Williams Family Papers (M 010)

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

Loudoun Times Mirror , February 24, 1993; March 10, 1993.

Williams Family Papers (M 010), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Winslow Williams Photograph Collection (VC 0003), 1925-1980, Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Other Finding Aid

Past Perfect catalogue records

Technical Requirements

Electronic media