AHS Research & Preservation Committee

If you’ve reached this page, you are probably interested in learning about or researching some aspect of Arlington history.  AHS does not maintain a research library or collections of archival materials besides artifacts.   However, since 1957 we have published The Arlington Historical Magazine, a journal of original research on all things Arlington, and the entire series is available on this website at https://arlhist.org/learn/ahs-magazine/.  In addition, we have a limited number of books about Arlington history for sale; for details, click here.

We can also direct you to known sources of historical information, including those operated by Arlington County government.  Principal among these is the Arlington County Public Library, where holdings related to county history are concentrated in the Charlie Clark Center for Local History (CCCLH).  The Charlie Clark Center, located at the main library on N. Quincy Street, is a repository of books, maps, city directories, and many other materials useful to researchers.  It incorporates the Arlington Community Archive, a separately-located repository of records of community groups, businesses, individual Arlingtonians, and more.  Guidance for accessing CCCLH resources can be found at https://library.arlingtonva.us/charlie-clark-center-for-local-history/.

Each of the five hyperlinks below will lead you to a page with sources of information that can be found either online or in local repositories.  The pages use a consistent format; on each, you will find links to “Arlington County Public Library Resources,” “Arlington County Government Resources,” and “Other Resources.”

• “Your County” also includes a selected bibliography of books about county history, as well as links to sources of county-wide history.  It also contains links to some neighborhood features, such as schools, churches, cemeteries, waterways, and other subjects not found elsewhere that AHS has compiled over the years.
• “Your Neighborhood” also includes links to neighborhood organization websites, many of which contain information about the origin and development of their respective neighborhoods.   While we attempt to keep these lists up to date, you may not see your neighborhood or neighborhood feature listed; that might be because we’ve overlooked it, or because there is no known organization that maintains a website for it.
• “Your Property” also contains tips on how to research the history of houses in Arlington.   Most of the same sources can be used if you are researching the history of a commercial property.
• “Your Family” contains descriptions of and links to sources of information for those engaged in genealogical research generally and for researching past residents of Arlington specifically.
• “Your Question — Something Else” contains guidance and suggestions for doing Arlington historical research doesn’t naetly fit in one of the above categories .

If you’ve explored these links and still haven’t found what you’re looking for, then send an inquiry to:
info@arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org.  We’ll do our best to help!

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